Stuff – Oma’s Older – Snow!

Our friends Martha and Tracy invited us to join them for church, celebrating Advent. So there was a lovely church service followed by a potluck, lots of crafts to partake in, and socializing. The kids strung a holiday necklace, decorated graham cracker houses, rolled candles and Jo made a cinnamon roll wreath with Tracy! (yes, to eat)Socializing? Well Mom knew a couple folks other than Tracy and Martha but Oma knew quite a few more! More than once someone walked up to Tracy or Martha (while I was standing next to them) and asked “I hear Jill Smith is here? And where are her children?” Tracy or Martha would point to the kids, a comment would be made and then off they went to say hello to Jill. College and Track folks.

Asked the kids if they enjoyed church (their first time attending) They both said “I LOVED it!” Especially decorating the houses. We explained that the service was the church part; the rest was just a bonus. (condensed version here) They then said “Oh, that was nice too”.

Oma Starts New Chapter
Jo was able to give Oma her birthday gift before work so she was able to wear her new dragonfly earrings.

That night we enjoyed a new Sushi restaurant indulging in all sorts of new versions of one of our favorite foods. We didn’t over eat, however, because we still had to drive across town to Sweet Life to pick out our own birthday desert and sing Happy Birthday to Oma.

Our Tree

We were to head south for part of our weekend but with the weather folks saying “snow” we grudgingly stayed home. Instead we picked out our Christmas tree and decorated it. The holiday feeling is complete now with the smell of pine in the air! Whoohoo!

FIRST SNOW!I think Oma is more excited about snow than the kids. Her pattern for years now has been to wake up, run out and take a photo or two of the snow on the ground before it’s disturbed and then back in to wake up the kids with “IT SNOWED!”. She actually let the kids sleep until they woke on their own this year.

They wasted no time getting outside to play and ate some breakfast next door instead of coming back into our house. HaHa

SNOW DAY for ALL!
(Sorry Connie and all those who have to work knowing we are out playing)

Jo Teeth and Cole Hoops

All I want for Christmas …Cole’s first basketball trading card.

Our Holiday Weekend

Spent the weekend with the S side of this BS Family. Great trip with lots of visiting and if you’re a kid, a ton of playing, wait…the adults played too!

Started off Thanksgiving morning with a 3.5 mile
Turkey Trot around Lake Sacajawea Park.IT WAS COLD!

Most of us trotted and walked around about half the lake but Oma and Cole trotted / walked the whole thing! Carol said that Cole deserved a
Turkey Trot t-shirt for his effort!

Here our future Chef Lanna was helping Nanny with the turkey and stuffing. I’m sure Lanna was telling Nans to not miss a crumb of stuffing inside, no wasting stuffing when it tastes so good!Dinner Time!

Still a kids table or breakfast bar in this case.Adult table. YUMMY!
(Just put a turkey in our freezer for this weekend,
need some leftovers)

The kids were up early, awake late and played hard every day.Jo tried to stay awake for a movie but just couldn’t keep the eyelids open even though chatter and movement were all around her.

Geocaching!
What is this you ask? Well let me just copy and paste what the Geocaching site says. “Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment.”

FIRST
We have to learn how to type in the coordinates into Nanny’s gps.

Jill gave it a try….I think you click...no...


Then Dan gave
it a shot…Maybe this?...no...

Carol…helped?

Tina gave it a try…

Damn thing…

Directions?

DIRECTIONS
PLEASE…

This is suppose to be fun!

(a little reading goes a long way some times)

Whewh…We did it! And off we go hunting!And our FIRST FIND!We searched out five this day with a lunch stop in the middle which was easy to get lunch seeing how one of the cache’s were in the middle of town.

This is our last find of trinkets and trash. We wrote our names on the paper inside the cache’s and the kids swapped out some of their own stuff for other stuff they thought was better.

What a GREAT family activity. And for most of us I’m sure it’s the closest we will ever come to finding real treasure. In the meantime we will continue finding our own….Off to buy our own gps and more treasures!

Thanksgiving Caption?

Caption This Photo!

Thanksgiving dinner with family.

Just click "comments" below and type in your caption.

Letters – TOGA – Swim

The kids write letters at school for practice. They are told to write the letters of each word that they hear and so they don’t get help with spelling. The letters have been a blast to read, and also fun to hear to whom they have written, like the principal and friends at school.

This is Jo’s most recent letter.(translation if you need it)
Dear Mom
I miss you and I love Oma, Mom and Cole and can we make gingerbread men. One for Cole and Mom and Oma and me and we can put decorations on.
Sincerely, Jo

Cole’s Weekend News(translation if you need it)
My Mom and Oma went to a party. Lori came over to baby sit us. I played Guitar Hero, it was fun. My sister played a rock game with Lori. Next day I had to go to my basketball game. Then I got grounded from on and off stuff because I was talking in bed.

TOGA

Jenjen and Julie wanted to have a party and they put a toga theme to it. What fun! This would be my first toga party and I was a little nervous about attending. Wearing a toga was nothing, it was the fact I put a theme to our togas and didn’t know if others would think I was too goofy or silly. (I do have those sensitive moments once in a while)

No Worries. We fit right in! In fact I think there were only three white togas in attendance. Most put their own spin on their outfits, which made the evening totally fun!

I did break out my ancestor’s jewelry for this occasion; the pearls have been in my family since the stone ages. I don’t think I have ever attended a party where my outfit needed this touch of class. Going to the opera soon? I can loan them to you but your going to have to leave your credit card for collateral.

Some toga highlights…

Caroline & Liz (top left) wore Roman togas complete with light up swords. Funny! Martha (top right) went with the 80’s flannel while Tracy became another self with toga-cat; including an attached tail. She also made sure she brought her own glass for the keg, just in case they charged by the glass. Swish Swish, or was it chug chug. Dune and Karen wore home improvement togas, drop cloth with duck tape and a plastic drop. (I've only seen a plastic toga one other time and I shouldn’t repeat it here) Julie was Mooo-toga holding a plate of cheese pops that I’m sure she acquired the milk from some place close to her heart. And good old Jenjen wore one of the most famous togas of them all. Otter’s toga from Animal House!

SWIM!
Jo is back swimming and is doing awesome! She is like a motorboat with her backstroke, swimming all over the pool without stopping.The one stroke she has needed to work on is the crawl (she would call it her side breathing). The best we have seen her do is about three strokes and three breaths before she would run out of air. She now has swam the length of the pool doing her crawl! Not once but we have seen it twice! Yippy! She is very proud and excited, as are we.
KUDO’S KIDO!

Awards – Duck Weather – Basketball

The kids had their second school awards assembly and each where honored again. Are we/they setting the kids up for sadness as the school year moves forward, winning things right off the bat? Or can our prodigies keep up the honors? Haha

Our Little ManHe received a certificate for the playground. Always following playground and sports rules. He also earned a pencil for perfect attendance for the month of October.

Our Jo

(Though she has informed us that she thinks
Elizabeth sound prettier than Jo)She received the Citizenship award (top school award) from her classroom, which includes a certificate and a medal along with eating pizza with the principle the following day. She too received a pencil for perfect attendance.

It Never Rains at Autzen Stadium!
We are Ducks, so the rain beads up and rolls off our backs…into our pants and down our sleeves!Tracy invited me to the game and it was a wet one. She covered us with ponchos and a large plastic sheet for our laps along with seat pads that kept some of the water from soaking all the way through to our bums.

We had beer, beef jerky, a hotdog (me) and nachos (Tracy) with that lovely canned cheese! We learned that onions can show up on things long after a hotdog is gone and that the best water repellent is that lovely canned cheese. The water just pooled on top of that delicious golden goo.

We also learned that applauding vigorously with wet hands splatters your face and with glasses it makes it a tad hard to see. (I did however applaud with my hands in front of Tracy’s face…I had no problem seeing after that play)
Lastly we were able to warm our insides with a sip (or ten) from a silver canister of love.
Devine! Thank You Tracy! I had a GREAT Time!

First year of basketball for Cole.Cole dribbles well and is one of two that brings the ball down the court. He had a very good time at his three games jamboree this weekend and is looking forward to the next game.
(If you’re into a good belly laugh you should watch this age play ball)

Swimming starts next week for Jo. She’s looking forward to getting back into the pool as are we looking forward to her having an activity. She has also said she wants to try gymnastics…might be next?

Happy Halloween!

Boo!Sharon came by to carve pumpkins with us.Trick or Treat!Two blocks this year with quite a few full size candy bars.

Mom’s costume.

Played with our make-up.

Got quite a few funny looks,
more double takes and
then a few folks that actually
asked if the scratches were real.

Cole wants me to tell all of you:
"That really grossed me out"

While Jo thought they were neat.

OMA and the 7th Grade Teachers
ROCK!

School Photos – Poison Control – Carnival

First Grade Photos!

A Story about Jo, our quiet inquisitive child.

She started to cry loudly and coughing as she came into the kitchen.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“Nothing, I just need a drink” she grabbed a cup and headed to the bathroom. (they can reach that faucet)
She came out with water but coughing harder and the cry became a yelling cry.
While holding her I again I asked, “What happened?”
“The bathroom is making me sick”
“What did you do?”
“I don’t know”.
I headed to the bathroom and there on the counter was a small can of mace.
“Did you spray this on you?”
“No, only in the sink.”
In the shower she went and a drink of soy.
Called poison control to get more information.
With the help of a magnifying glass (Hey! It was small print!) I read the ingredients to poison control and it’s only pepper spray and what I did for her was all good.
She came out of the shower in good shape.
The kids now have learned what pepper spray is used for.
We also talked about how to describe things that they are doing or have seen even if they don’t know what those things are called.
She sure does keep life interesting.

Oh, and you might be wondering why I couldn’t smell the pepper spray? I have had a head cold for over a month now. I am on meds but I discovered that I have no sense of smell at this time. I found this out by trying to smell a lovely pumpkin candle Libby gave us. Everyone says it smell wonderful…I get absolutely nothing. I’m sad.

School Harvest Carnival
Jo wanted to be a cat this year. We only sort of looked for cat costumes with Oma and Jo finding ears that they liked. So we made a trip to the fabric store where we were reminded that Jo is a thoughtful shopper. (She took freaking forever to pick the exact fabric!) Only having a slight idea of what to do with this fabric I promised Jo a cat outfit. I worked hard and both kids were surprised that we had a sewing machine and even more shocked that I could use it. Jo helped with some of the design along with thoughts from Gma Marie, Gpa David and Oma.

This is Princess Jo the Cat.

Jo’s words.

“Thank you Mom, I love it!”
(this came with a huge hug that made me all warm and fuzzy inside)

Cole is pumpkin bowling at the carnival.He pulled out his old martial arts uniform for the carnival. Costumes are back in and he’s loving it! Today he has already had two other costumes on, a Jedi, Batman and then back to regular play cloths. (anyone want to do his laundry?) What will he be for Halloween? He changes his mind often, guess he will surprise us an hour or so before we walk out of the house.

Artemis – Duck Baseball – Private Moments

I would like to say that Artemis was a gentle, cuddly, playful and a fun loving part of our family and for this we miss him very much. But Artemis was Unique. So he was none of those things, in fact in his younger days not a living creature would be allowed into his yard without being attacked or if small enough…permanently removed. He demanded respect with fear outside and even inside his home. Many times we watched Cole or Jo walk completely out of their way to avoid his reaches because they learned early in their lives that you just couldn’t tell what kind of mood he was in. Feared. Respected. He Demanded it! He Took it! Yet we all loved him for who he was, and he knew where he belonged, where he was loved.The past few years he became a different cat, ok, only sort of. With his blind eye he wasn’t able to demand the respect outdoors any longer but there was no lack of trying on his part. His status was being beaten out of him by younger thugs (karma?) and he would come home with wounds, each time a little worse than the last. So he became the cat who got to sit in the windowsill and watch the others get rained on, or curled up on our porch to stay warm. He did however want more cuddle time, loved to be loved and even sought it out. He sat on people’s laps that had never been able to touch him before, and would purr. Yet at times he would still reach out and leave a mark on us that would remind us to Respect him through Fear!

Artemis was part of this family, respectfully.
We miss him, the good and the uniqueness.

Duck Baseball?

Yes, we have baseball back in the Duck pond!

We spent an evening watching the Duck baseball team practice and then after they had a Meet and Greet for kids. Jo didn’t want to participate but Cole was all over it! He learned how to run bases like a Duck, hit like a Duck and throw like a Duck. Hey, if it can Hit, Run, Throw it must be a Duck!

Here Cole pitches a ball 34 mph.

Cole also received quite a few trading cards, all signed, and one fellow signed his hat. He also took Oma’s old catchers glove and had players sign that as well. At the end he really wanted to play catch with a Duck player so he sought out a pitcher and asked if he would throw to him. The player was awesome and said yes.Another player then stood behind the pitcher and told Cole to throw the runner out at second base. Cole came away from this with a huge grin! He Hearts Baseball. Mix this with Ducks…surprised we didn’t see him drooling.

Private moments caught on tape?
(guess that would be caught on digital now days)
Cole and Jo figured out that our camera took videos. We have been shooting videos for years now and this day the light finally clicked on in their heads I guess. I pieced together about a four minute video of their…well I’m not sure what to call it other than we laughed! Oh, how we laughed! (turn your sound on)

I will tell you, we have plenty of embarrassing moments that we can some day use against them if we so choose. And you’re not even watching those parts.

School n Stuff

The kids are doing well in school and seem to really enjoy it, which is great. Reading, writing, math and music are things they talk about, ok…that’s a lie. They tell us each day what they did on the playground and that recess was their favorite part of the day.

Here is a writing Cole did at school that I wanted to share.“What makes me laugh?
My sister she makes a funny voice.”

I had writing that Jo did for Oma, I was going to scan it as well but I procrastinated and now it’s hung up at Oma’s work.
Where it should be.

The kids had their first awards assembly on Friday, to which all parents were invited. The kids did not know who was receiving awards or for that matter what an “assembly” even was.

Jo received: a Pencil for Perfect Attendance and a Teacher Recognition Certificate which reads: “Jo is always on task! She is a great model for room 1 students.”

Here Jo is receiving her certificate from the principle.

Cole received: a Pencil for Perfect Attendance and a Citizenship Award which only one student from each class receives. His reads: “Cole is an excellent example of a good citizen! He is kind and respectful. He always follows directions too!” A medal also came with this award.

Cole receiving his medal and certificate from the principle.

Jo’s teacher came up to us after school and informed us that he was flip flopping on who to give his Citizenship award to and decided that another child needed a little boost. And unless Jo just falls apart this next month his plan is to honor her with the same award. He said she is just a wonderful student. (hey, I can keep going on here Groupies…or are you telling me enough already?)

BS Honorees

The Stuff
We just have not taken many photos or been doing much to speak of. We have gotten into the swing of work and school again, watching football and just being, I guess. So just a couple shots of us doing our Stuff.

Here Jo came up to Oma’s chair and jumped on the back to give her an over the back hug. Well the chair tipped all the way to the ground, Cole and are started to laugh as Oma said “help, I can’t get back up” but then Cole said, “WAIT, I want to take a picture”. So Oma indulged his moment as he snapped some shots.Cole has been practicing his “Oli.” A neighbor kid showed him how to do this on the grass to the skateboard does not roll on him. He figured out quickly he could do the same thing on the carpet and had to show us how well he is doing with this trick.

I know, some of you are probably saying “Why are you letting him do this in the house?!” Hey, we DO think of safety…he’s wearing his helmet. And it seems no matter how hard we try to keep things “adult” nice in and around the house it just doesn’t work while having kids. (Mom, Dad…sure sorry about those dents in the walls and the hole in the door…and….and……..)

Cole still moves from one activity to the next. In this photo he is skateboarding but wearing football pants, he had just moved from full football gear to his skating and I could almost bet moved from skateboarding to baseball after this photo.

Fall…doesn’t it feel wet and wonderful? Oma says “NO!” She wants 90-100 and to be able to ride her bike in the hot sun!!

School – South – Parade

First Grade BS Groupies!
Some say, “I can’t believe it” but I can and I love it. Not how you might think, I’m loving watching them learn, grow and just experience the new. It makes my heart smile.They have different teachers this year and though they say they miss each other a little they are enjoying being separated. They see each other during lunch and recess but from what I have gathered so far they only say “hi” in passing.

Knew it would be a difficult task getting Jo to talk about her days this year because the past few years Cole has always done the talking about what they did in class and recesses. We have always tried to gently pull information from her but she would get lost in her imagination and turn some basic story into a grand one and then her brother would say “that didn’t happen”. She did however come home this past week and was very excited about what they did in class that day.
Her words.
My teacher, he pulled this white thing down from the ceiling.
Then he went over and turned on this light and it shown up on the white thing.
Then he drew on it and it drew on the white thing he pulled down.
He let us draw on it too.
Who would have thought an overhead projector could be so exciting?

Recess seems to be the high light of Cole’s day so far. He plays soccer every day, twice a day with all the boys. He is also becoming quite independent. For example this morning he took off jogging half way to school and was in the door and gone with out even saying good by to me. No kiss or anything. And yes…Mom is whining…just a little.

Hung out for a night with Rachelle and Connie so the kids could meet their new dog and also feed a calf that was being bottle-fed.

After this bottle was empty they picked prunes from a tree and, if they didn’t eat them, fed them to the cows. They have gotten quite comfortable with cows now, to the point that Cole had to be told NOT to put his hand all the way in the cow’s mouth when feeding them.

We then headed down to the creek to pick some blackberries. Creek, cow pies and sunshine make a good combo for blackberries!It took us longer than last year to get our bags full but we managed to pick enough to make a cobbler when we got home. Cole is not much into pies and was not sure about eating this but one bite and he didn’t want to stop until it was all gone.Does it make you hungry?
Might make another trip out hunting berries. Tasted like summer!

Eugene Celebration Parade
We staked out a spot close to coffee again this year and though it was a little cool it wasn’t as chilly as last year. We met up with Martha, Tracy and a couple of their friends for our annual sit and laugh.The kids each got a $1000 bill, some candy, cocoa, Frisbee and a necklace. We watched storm troupers, dancers of all kind, marching bands, the red hat ladies and much more.

Even Obama and McCain showed up.Some of the issues they were wrestling with were, boxers vs briefs and ballet vs hip-hop. You know, issues that keep us focused on America and don’t distract us from the real issues.
Just keeping it real.

Good times and Great friends!