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.