September 2019

In September we headed back to Utah to help Ben's parents move into their new house in Springville.When we got back to Portland we caught up with friends and started our fall classes. The kids all had several firsts as they continue to discover new interests and talents.

Utah Trip

At the beginning of September we made a quick trip to Utah to help Ben's parents move into their new home. They moved out of their home in Denver several weeks prior to this and had been staying in temporary housing while they looked for a new home in Utah County.

Ben stayed the nights at his parents' new home so that he could be there to help first thing in the morning. His brother, Mike, flew in from Texas to help out, too, so they had some quality brother bonding time. The kids and I stayed over at my mom's house to make things simpler.

The kids enjoyed the freedom to play outside while we were there. They played in the water and the sandbox. Tommy also enjoyed playing basketball in the driveway.

We made it to The Leonardo for an afternoon with my mom. Since school had already started we basically had the building to ourselves! They put together puzzles and built machines. They were so engaged and having so much fun that it was hard to leave when it was time.

We spent plenty of time with the cousins on my mom's side. They always love getting together to play and to be teased by Uncle Wes.

We also spent a morning with my uncle, my cousin, and her three kids. My kids were thrilled to play with a cute baby!

We jumped our energy out one afternoon and had a great time together. Here is a video to prove it:

At Grandma and Grandpa's house we worked hard to move in and still got lots of time together. Grandma read to the kids and Tommy built a really cool fort out of the moving boxes. He even added air conditioning and a mailbox that he used to communicate with Grandma!

We broke in the new backyard with the slip 'n' slide. It's nice to have such a large area to play in!

 

The kids also loved having some big empty space to run around and wrestle in!

Friends

When we returned home to Portland we jumped right back in to our school/friend routine.

We get to see our homeschool friends every Friday afternoon, so that's good news for Lily and her Beanie Boo companions.

Every fall some swifts migrate through Portland and stop to roost in the old chimney of Chapman Elementary School. They put on quite a show at dusk as they gather inside the chimney. It's like a bird tornado that gets sucked right into the chimney! It's always better with friends, too.

My friend, Jodi, and her family came through Portland and we met them for dinner at one of our favorite food cart pods. They have twin baby boys and the kids were thrilled to hold them!

We spent a morning at Mount Tabor pulling ivy with some friends. It was a fun and easy way to get involved with the community and to beautify our resident volcano!

Here are a few friends from church we hung out with one afternoon to celebrate a birthday! Any excuse to get outside, especially with friends, is a good one.

Fall Firsts

After a long summer with lots of screen time, we limited the kids' screen time to 1 hour per day once our school started. This forced the kids to use their imaginations. They began using their afternoons to travel to Antarctica and Paris rather than sitting around, rotting their brains.

During the Fall we started taking daily morning walks up to Mount Tabor. It was a great way to relax and get the blood pumping for morning school instruction. We gathered all kinds of acorns, walnuts, chestnuts, leaves, and sticks each visit and got more acquainted with our beautiful neighbor.

Tommy started blacksmithing classes at Trackers every Wednesday afternoon. It was the highlight of his week! While he pounded hot metal, the girls and I played at the park and spent time at the library. On colder afternoons we even sipped hot chocolate at Starbucks.

Lily enrolled in a collaborative art class that she loved. The entire class worked together to create huge pieces of art, like the one pictured below.

I had to include this drawing of a doggie that Clara made. It is so cute!

Clara also enjoyed drawing art on herself a time or two this fall.

Lily and Clara had some fun sister time together to play in imaginative and creative (and loud) ways.

And here is one final picture of Clara all dolled up and ready to go. This outfit probably only lasted 10 minutes, which is why we took a picture.

September was a great month for our family. We ended the summer with one final vacation and then came back to Portland to our fall schedule and weather. It was full of new beginnings and lots of family and friend time!

June 2018

Summer is so sweet in Portland! We spent the month of June outside as much as possible to make up for the cold and rainy winter.

Baseball 

After a few months of letting baseball run our lives, it finally came to an end. The final event was a tournament in Clackamas against a bunch of new teams we hadn't played yet. The kids played hard, worked hard, got themselves into and out of pickles, and had a lot of fun.

I bought the girls ring pops for breakfast that turned into binkie suckers.

Tommy's team really pulled it together and played well in the tournament. As hard as it was to work around baseball games and practices, I was very sad to see the season come to an end. Until next year!

Each of the kids received an award from their coaches. Tommy received "Rookie of the Year," a fitting award for him. Tommy's best asset is that he listens carefully and works really hard to follow the advice and directions his coaches give him. He has fun, but he focuses on improving and working on his weaknesses. It paid off this season and we are all so proud of him.

This is the transcription from the video of his coach, Tony: "Our Rookie of the Year Award. This guy, it’s his first year playing ball, but he’s amazing out there, okay? From day one at practice ‘till now, I mean, I have no doubt in my mind that when we put Tommy out there he’s gonna make a play. When we put him at the plate he’s gonna get a hit. This guy’s amazing. He’s our Rookie of the Year!" 

Tommy's Birthday

June is Tommy's month. We celebrated his ninth birthday with lots of whittling supplies and tickets to a Mariner's game. I can't believe how old this boy is getting!

Trip to Seattle

The weekend after Tommy's birthday we took a road trip up to Seattle to see a Mariner's game. It was his first major league baseball game and turned into a great weekend.

We left early on Saturday morning and arrived in Seattle shortly before lunch. We parked at the Pacific Science Center, got in for free with our science museum membership, and spent a couple of hours enjoying the museum. Let's just say that some kids loved the butterfly room while others screamed bloody murder as the butterflies flew around their heads.

After a couple of hours in the science museum we wandered outside to spend some time in the parks around the Space Needle. There was some kind of festival going on so we had no problem finding the best fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chocolate-dipped strawberry skewers in all the land.

We spent the night with our friends, Roger and Anne. They lived in Arizona when we did and then moved to Seattle right before we moved to Portland. Our kids have known each other since they were babies. We recreated a picture taken of Miles and Tommy when Tommy was just a few months old.

All of the kids got along so well even though they don't see each other very often.

The next morning we had breakfast with our other Seattle friends, Adam and Jamie. They lived in our ward in Arizona and moved to Seattle a couple of years ago. After we went camping with them in 2015 we have affectionately called them the Bird People. The kids got along great there, too.

After breakfast we headed downtown to the Mariner's game. It was the first time the kids have been to a professional sporting event. The baseball was good, but I think the kids would say the Dippin' Dots was the best part!

ICE Occupation

June also marked the beginning of family separations at the Mexican border. A bunch of cities, including Portland, gathered at ICE facilities to protest the new policy. The kids and I joined the protest in Portland. We made signs and took pizza to the protesters that were camping out

Things were pretty chill while we were there. We did see the protesters harass a handful of agents. We also saw them prevent one agent from leaving the parking lot by standing in front of the car. The day we were there was the last day that facility was open for a couple of weeks. It was pretty cool to be part of the movement to shut down the facility.

Ben had a friend come from Eugene to protest with her daughter. His friend decided to sleep over at the protest so we watched her daughter, Bee, for the night. It was the first time Lily had a friend sleep over and she couldn't have been more thrilled.

Haircuts

We tried a couple of months ago to cut Clara's hair, but she screamed so much that we gave up. After a bunch of role playing she was ready to try again. Success this time!

I was so proud of my girls that I took them to the park for lunch and even bought them ice cream when the ice cream truck passed by.

Swimming, Park Time, and More!

We spent as much time as we could outside at the park, at splash pads around town, and at the pool.

Portland Parks always hosts such great activities at the parks during the summer. We love to go eat lunch, do crafts, and play for the afternoon.

And I don't remember where or why Clara and I took this picture, but it's pretty funny so I had to include it.