Bees be gone!!!

What a horrible discovery Tim made yesterday! He went into our house crawlspace to insulate anything that is was not done properly, made his way to the fireplace area and found a bee grave! By his estimates, there are probably 50,000 dead bees laying around. Everywhere!

It appears that we were incorrect to assume that bees were making their home in the space between the brick wall and the fireplace. They were actually making their way into the crawlspace through the hole in the brick and had full access to the entire space. (we even had a bee keeper telling us they had no access to the house and they are confined within that space!)

Good news is that they didn't make a honey comb/house (hmmm... strange...) & they appear to be all deceased.

Bad news is that I no longer feel safe from bugs in the house. Oh, I can only imagine now what would happen if we went under the house before they all died!

What I find very interesting is that there was a way out of the crawlspace, yet, they only knew one way in and out, and once it was closed they didn't know what to do! So much for bees' intelligence.

All I can think about now is a scene from the "Bee Movie" when Barry B Benson tries to leave a "human house" and runs into a closed window: "This time! This time! This time! This!.. This!.. This!.."

September 26th weekend

Tim's oldest moved in with us this weekend (Miranda). So, much of the weekend was spent shopping for essentials: toiletries, clothes, etc. We also got all the paperwork for her school enrollment and Tim took a couple of days off from work to get the ball rolling...

Before her arrival, we kept up with our typical weekend routine. On Saturday we stopped by the Farmers Market, then on the way home by the JB Thomas school to see the demolition progress. The building is almost completely gone. Only the front wall remains.
Jon had another birthday party to attend. This week his friend Gavin turned five. Kids' party was at the tumbling place and everyone had a blast.

Jon was very particular about the present for Gavin and I believe it was a hit. (I think Jon picks out what HE really wants).

Larissa is apparently taking after me. She typed up everything we had to do this weekend into (My Mom's old PDA's) check off list and made sure we didn't forget anything.
One of the shopping stops was at the Old Navy. While Miranda was trying her clothes on, Gabe almost joined a mannequin family... Looks like he would fit right in... Lucky for us, he changed his mind :-)

Music to my ears

I finally got around doing what I was going to do over a year ago. I got everyone signed up for art/music & sport activities! My thinking is that kids won't have the time to get in trouble if they don't have the time. Right?..

As of next week, Gabe is going to be in a school band and a swimming class (and possibly in a drama class), Larissa is in an acting class, a piano class and a swimming class, and Jon is in a swimming class with the occasional holiday fun classes to come. I even manged to find some open times to sign myself up for a couple of fun classes. A jewelry making (one day) and a glass fusing (two days). I think that is a good start.

We had some trouble deciding which instrument to get Gabe to play in the school band, but then we came to the rental night and had a chance to test them all. We just knew that Euphonium was meant to be for him. That was what we initially were going for, but wanted to make sure he liked it.

What I am mostly proud of is that I finally got an idea for Tim's birthday present! Forget all the electronic gadgets, he has enough of that! He has been talking for a while about wanting to learn to play a guitar, so I got him signed up for some classes and he got to pick out an acoustic guitar (and a case). I think he likes the present :-)

My only worry at this point is all the possible music-making-noise I might have to endure in my house. But I am not worried too much. My kids are not known for practicing enough...

Last weekend of Summer 2009

Another fast paced weekend for me.

This Saturday Jon got an invitation to attend his friend Jack's birthday party. We got a present and a card on Friday, all set to go.

Tim got a cold and instead of him taking Jon to the party and me taking Larissa to the Michael's store for an American Girl crafts event, I now had to decide who goes and who doesn't. Of course, birthday took priority.

On Saturday morning I decided to do my routine a little different. Instead of running my long run then going to the Saturday Market I did it the other way around... or so I thought I would...

Going to the market early means getting first dibs and not risking getting something sold out before you get there. We got three bags full of goodies, some mini-doughnuts and a cup of coffee for me. Quick stop at McDonald's to get Tim his breakfast (which, once again, I manage to mess up on getting the right one...) and we are home. Before getting into my running attire on I double checked the invitation and realized that it is not at 1pm (as I thought fore some odd reason), but at 11am! Here goes my long run.

When I dropped Jon at the party, it dawns on me, we are only a couple of minuted away from the Michael's store, so I go back home, get Larissa and we make it to the crafts session. Score!

On the way home from the party we stopped for lunch at Hot Pot N Sushi where we manage to consume plates and plates of food. So much for a light lunch. But I don't say no when Jon wants edemame and fried calamari, even if doesn't know "exactly" what it is, I rather he acquires the taste for good food early.

On Sunday I finally get to try something "different". I made salsa using fresh yellow tomatoes (and other fresh ingredients from the market).

One of the tomatoes was very oddly shaped. It had a witch's nose on it:

No matter, it all goes in. Fresh cilantro, garlic, onion, etc.

I like to blend all the ingredients first, then add jalapenos
I think original recipe called for a couple of jalapenos, but over time my recipe got up to five-six jalapenos. We like it HOT!

Despite it's strange color/look, this is got to be the best salsa I ever had. The sweetness of the yellow tomatoes, combined with all the fresh ingredients and fresh Bavarian garlic. Yummy!

Another interesting even on Sunday was a special present my family got me. It was Tim's idea, but everyone were quick to take a credit. He got my XBox's avatar a camera! It doesn't do anything, but it now truly represents my persona. It's the small things that count.

I will have to take a picture of it, ha ha ha!

What were you thinking, Gabe?..

As we were sitting down for dinner, I noticed that Gabe had two dirt spots on his upper lip. I asked him to go wash it off. When he returns, they are still there.

I am now getting a little frustrated and I ask him again to wash his face, to which he replies that he already did.

Tim and I are puzzled. "How did you get those spots?"

Gabe: "With an eraser"...

"Was there ink on the eraser?"

"No."

Now, it's a mystery...

I ask "Let me see the eraser"

Gabe pulls out a pencil topper eraser out of his pocket. Suddenly, I remember seeing a camera on the table earlier and Larissa making a comment that Gabe was taking pictures of himself with an eraser! I look at the picture and I now know exactly what happened! Gabe gave himself a hickey by suctioning a hallow end of an eraser to his skin!

Gabe is embarrassed. Good! Hopefully, he won't do that again! And now, he has to go to school looking like a musketeer...

September 12th weekend.

I finally have my new car all finished! I could not be happier. Only when you get a decent thing do you realize what a piece of crap you had up to that point... Everything that needed to be has been fixed, replaced and painted. The only challenge I still face is this particular smell. Can't quite decide what it is. It could be the paint, it could be the burned metal from cutting a hole in the roof, or it could be a dog pee. Sigh... I am pretty sure previous owner had a dog.

On Friday Gabe had an allergist' appointment where we decided he was due for his allergy testing. Doctor wants to get some blood works done for that. I could tell, as soon as there was a mentioning of needles, that Gabe wouldn't be happy. Hes eyes filled with horror (and tears). Even doctor noticed it and reassured him that it's not as bad as he thinks it is...

On Saturday we all enjoyed a family trip to a Saturday Farmers Market. Loaded up on fruits, vegetables and I got some hazelnuts (to keep at work, of course). After the trip Gabe returned to his altar (XBox), Larissa got back to hers (upstairs XBox), so Tim and I took Jon out for lunch and to tun some errands.

We had sushi, of course. I found some sushi with cooked tuna, imitation crab meat and cucumbers (& without the seaweed) and Jon actually liked it. I though it was a good introduction to my favorite food.

While shopping for clothes Jon came across a black hat and totally fell in love with it. He wore it at the store and all the way home. Once we got home though, Gabe decided that he loved it too and "borrowed" it from Jon. He ended up going to bed wearing it...

On Sunday we went back to the store and got a second hat... and a hat for Larissa. Once she saw a Tony Hawk hat for $2.50, she was sold on it!

All the kids looked so cute I just had to take pictures.

It went well at first, but when I tried getting all three in one picture I had run into some snags... nothing new.

9:09 PM on 09/09/09

We just HAD to capture the moment! With all the talk on the news and the supposed luckiness of the date combination... Plus, it only happens once a century and I am not sure if I will be available in 100 years to take a picture, LOL!

We only had one minute to quickly rotate the clock and take each other's picture, but I think we did well.

Me:

Larissa:

Gabe:

and Jon:Not sure what is going on with that smile... but by the time we took a better picture, it was 9:10, so we couldn't use it :-)

Last weekend before school

Why is it when you have a long weekend, it feels like it was too short? May be because I assume that with an extra day attached to the weekend I will be able to accomplish more, only to realize that it is impossible to get everything done...

Main thing we finally accomplished over the weekend is getting to taste a real coconut (milk). Strangely, it was cheaper than in Hawaii, and now we know FOR SURE that no one really likes it raw. Jonathan was almost obsessed with getting to taste it while in Hawaii, but we were unable to find any place serving it, so we got it upon our return to Oregon.
After posing for this picture holding coconut milk filled glasses no one wanted to drink it...

The entire weekend we had a typical Oregon Fall weather. Sunny, rainy, sunny, rainy...

We went on a long walk (five miles! I wasn't sure if kids would make it back, but the did, with only a few meltdowns) when it was raining and returned with a rainbow.
There was no pot of gold at the end of a rainbow... only sore feet...

I am sure glad that I got all the school supplies purchased before going on vacation. All I had to do the night before school is separate them into Gabe's and Larissa's bags. Is it just me, or every year school supply list is getting bigger and bigger?..

I tried taking picture of kids getting on the bus, but they were so fast, all I got was a picture of the bus...

Bus driver asked Jon if he was going to get on the bus too and Jon grabbed on to my legs in horror. Ha ha! I don't think he is too eager to go to school yet. No problem, he got a whole year to change his mind.

Things I learned on my vacation:

• Don't rent equipment at the resort (i.e. snorkeling mask & fins, swim board...). We paid way more for the convenience, as we found out a day later.
• If your place has a washer/dryer, you don't need change of clothes for every day of your vacation.
• Read small print, before you sign anything. That's how we got scheduled for a Time-share presentation...
• Take a day to figure out all the things you might want to see and make a plan.
• Bring a larger carryon, if you can, rather than paying for the extra luggage. We loaded each kid with a backpack and only checked in three bags between the five of us. At $20 per bag we probably saved $40 each way.
• Packing all the medical (diabetes) supplies into it's own bag made it so much easier to get through security.
• Bring a lot of things to keep kids busy on a long flight. Not only we had no problem with our kids, we had other passengers tell us that we have "such well behaved kids". (Boy, did we fool them...)
• "International Market" in Hawaii does not mean from around the world... at all.
• Bring snacks!
• Sun block is crucial. Make sure to cover yourself in even layer and do not miss any spots. It takes a day or more to get adjusted to the extra sun, so take it easy at first!
• Relax! You are on vacation!