Kseniya's Blog

June 25th weekend

2011-06-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

A very productive week(end) indeed!

On Wednesday, June 22nd we celebrated Miranda's 18th birthday. Pizza dinner and cheesecake, her a friend for a sleepover, another gift for Miranda (digital camera). Everyone seemed happy!

On Friday we all went out for a nice dinner at the Venetian Cafe for Miranda's going away dinner. Food was good, dessert was excellent!

Early Saturday morning Miranda, Larissa and Tim got up at 4:30am and took Miranda to her 6am flight. Just as Tim was getting ready to relax, he was called into work and spent an entire day there.

Meanwhile, I started cleaning the house and kept going, and going, and... Until I was totally exhausted, but it felt so good to de-clutter another area of the house!

Larissa's room is (almost) back to what it was a couple of years ago

Sunday was spent on more cleaning, making sure everyone has good swim attire to take to the grandma's house, which resulted in a trip to the Old Navy store. I think we are so close to being ready for our vacation! I know everyone is looking forward to our trip.

Now that we have someone to watch the house and take care of our cat, we feel at ease.

June 18th weekend

2011-06-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

Spent most of the weekend cleaning out the house. We just made a large donation for kids' elementary school garage sale, and now Liberty Fit group is holding a sale too. So, we had to do another major closet checking. It feels nice to get rid of old stuff, especially when you know it's for a good cause.

June 11th weekend

2011-06-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

On June 9th Jonathan graduated from his kindergarten class.

His class put together an animal related show with songs and costumes. Jon was a monkey.

June 10th was Eastwood Fiesta night for all the kids and their parents.

There was a dunk tank where you can see your favorite teacher getting thrown into a tank of water, many foods and sweets to choose from, and many fun games to play. Jon tried out the giant hammer slam and won an inflatable hammer to take home. Gabe gave it a try too. Larissa was more interested in getting teachers wet. I helped out at one of the tables, and Jon won a backpack filled with small toys. Everyone really enjoyed the festivities.

Helvetia race is finally here!
Both Tim and Miranda completed the half-marathon distance on June 11th

Tim made it within his goal of two hours and Miranda made it in three.
Great weekend, many accomplishments.

June 4th weekend - Lacrosse playoffs

2011-06-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

Finally, the lacrosse playoffs are here!

We couldn't have asked for a better weather! May be a little too sunny and warm too soon? We are sure not used to it... we all got a little sun burned.

Everyone agreed that Gabe's team was ranked a little lower than it should've been. Possibly a mix up with another HALO team? Never the less, Gabe's team rocked! Played three games, won three games, with quite a margin in the scores too.

Gabe was given an incentive (by Tim) at the last game. If he were to score, his gaming privileges would be given back. Boy, did he try hard after that!!! He even got a chance to score, but the golly stopped his throw. You could see the disappointment, not only form Gabe, but from the parents too. We all wanted the "underdog" to get a chance.

He even got smacked on the knee with the lacrosse stick, hard, and didn't stop. He just walked it out.

I could tell that he is already thinking of next season.

June 3rd - Graduation

2011-06-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

It is now official, Miranda has graduated a high school!

Liberty High School did a wonderful job getting the kids all ready, then keeping them busy with an overnight safe party. It saved us a big headache of planning a party ourselves.

All the graduates were first seated in alphabetical order, then we got to hear a few speeches, a band performance, a choir performance,

and finally a "diploma walk".

We could tell that as much as the kids were happy to be done, there was some sadness in knowing that most friends will now move on. Some will stay nearby, and some will move far away.

Miranda - Straight to the overnight party, right after the ceremony!
Back home the next day, showered with school gifts, just in time to get a family gift of Kindle (with accessories). Reading is a good hobby to keep up with.

May 28th weekend

2011-05-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

Still waiting for the sunny warm weather to arrive. I hear the Summer is almost here, but it sure doesn't feel that way.

Miranda had her final choir performance. It was very nice and energetic. At the end all seniors' names were announced one by one, followed by a red rose. It is always a little sad to see the good things come to an end...

One of the local music radio stations was playing "an all 80's music" all weekend long and Larissa decided to do a research on what that was all about. She looked up the key clothing and styling points and we turned it into reality. Just for a day. She had so much fun parading around in bright clothes and hair sprayed pony tail on a side.

It's always nice to have an extra day off (Memorial Day). It gives you an opportunity to catch up on the projects (and sleep).

May 21st week(end)

2011-05-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

Week started off with a TAG (Talented And Gifted) field trip on Monday to the Aviation Museum for the Eastwood Elementary school. I helped to chaperon the kid (as Larissa's parent). There were six Hillsboro schools total, three school buses full. It was a one fun day! I think we all learned quite a bit, and it was also nice to spend the day away from work/school.

Tuesday was a make up game night for Gabe (woo-hoo, he played a whole two minutes... thanks coach!) and a Senior Night for Miranda's school. All the seniors put their final projects on display for everyone to see.

Skip forward to Saturday.
Another lacrosse game for Gabe.

then Tim and Miranda run a 12 miler!! this is their final "test" before running the Helvetia half-marathon in June. They both passed ;-)

Tim run the fast pace,

and Miranda walked some.

May 14th weekend

2011-05-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Busy week with Thursday and Friday off for the Elementary schools.
On Thursday we had a Parent/Teacher conferences and I volunteered for the school's Book Sale. Larissa scored a few new books as a result (hard to say no to a kid begging for books...)

On Friday I volunteered for a work' sponsored event at the movie theater. In exchange for handing out movie vouchers I got to see a movie and to bring the kids along.

Saturday was an extra busy day for us. Gabe's lacrosse game, shopping trip to the garden store, Miranda's senior performance, followed by the Senior Prom.

We did find the right dress for Miranda. Thanks to the Craigs List! It was a perfect fit too.

She wore it to the solo performance first. Jon thought it looked very cool too!

Sunday was a little gloomy. The sun dissapeared and the light rain arrived.
After Tim replaced our laundry room light (I never knew how hard it would be to chose a new light! Price vs. looks...) we stopped by the Eastwood Elementary school to help out with setting up their run/walk track. School won a grand to help improve it's physical education related activities. To strech the money PTA opted for the bark-chip filled track.

Everyone helped out and it took no time to get it all done.

Inspired by all the yard work, I went home and planted some veggies in our veggie/flower beds.

Fun weekend!

May 7th weekend

2011-05-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

This Saturday Larissa and I had a half-day Mommy and Me time. We started with attending a Crafty Wonderland expo at the Convention Center, where we both got inspired with a number of ideas. Larissa bought a paid of feather earrings, I took a closer look at them and decided that I could easily make some myself. Got supplies at the craft store down the street and went to town with it.

Larissa had some feather extensions added to her hair.

On the way back, we managed to make a stop by the Portland Saturday market where we had had lunch, then by the store to get a present for Larissa's friend, quick stop by the Gabe's lacrosse game, and off to take Larissa to her friend's party. Tough schedule to keep up with!

On Sunday Miranda went to help out with the Hippie Chick race (part of the Liberty Fit commitment). As Tim and Larissa went over to get her at noon, I went to my beading class. Just a small present for myself for Mother's Day. At the class I learned a rather complicated pattern to bead weave a Gunmetal Necklace. It came out wonderful and matched my shift perfectly.

After I got home, we went right back out, to the Mall, looking for a dress for Miranda. No luck! Everything is pretty much gone or damaged. I will continue looking online!

April 30th weeknd

2011-05-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Our Saturday was pretty much taken over by the Open House at my work. I volunteered at one of the booths, and had to come in before the start time, then stay afterward for the cleanup.

Since I had my little assistants with me, it was only fitting to reward them with the frozen yogurt treat at the end. We tried a new (to us) place called Yogurt Munch. I really like the idea of choosing your flavors and all the toppings you want. Don't like the final price... Not economical for a large family, but a nice treat once in a while.

Gabe had another game (away) and his team won again, by a very large margin. He still likes to play and still wishes to be in the game more...

On Sunday we got up early (well, earlier than we usually would) and went to the final day of the Wooden Shoe Farm' Tulip Festival. We have been meaning for a few years now to go, but every year something more important would come up and then it would be over... I am glad we finally made it!

As soon as we got there, Jon managed to slip on some mud and land on his seat...

We told him to walk around till it dries off... Even if it looks like he had a bathroom accident...

All the kids liked pooling up tulip names. We found one called Miranda and one called Perestroyka, but none called Kseniya...

Gabe fell for some white and some pale pink tulips. We both them both and took them home.

Larissa was really disappointed that food stand didn't accept debit cards and we didn't have any cash. She really wanted that elephant ear...

What a perfect day!

Some playing outside afterward to finish a perfect weekend.

Easter 2011 weekend

2011-04-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

This was a first sunny weekend in a while and we so enjoyed it! But by Sunday, it was mostly cloudy, with the predictions of rain/clouds for the rest of the week...

On Thursday Larissa participated in the schools' Talent Show. We got there at 6pm for the 6:30pm show and got the best seats in the house. Just as we settled in, I realized that my new camera was missing a memory card! Good thing we are only 5 minutes from home. I had to forfeit my great parking spot for the sake of taking pictures.

Larissa performed in a group dance first. Then, she sang with the school's choir. She requested that we would videotape the whole concert, so that she could see it too. Wouldn't you know it, just as her choir group came on stage, my video camera run out of memory! If it's not one thing, it's another.
Meanwhile, I was trying to get familiar with my new camera's functionality (in the dark). Probably something I should have done ahead, huh?..

On Friday we were going to go to another Liberty lacrosse game, but it was such a long week, that neither Tim or I had the energy to sit through another game. Plus, weather was actually so nice that we just wanted to "chill out" at home.
We decided to try a new restaurant take out for dinner. There is a small Vietnamese house we often drive past. Sadly, we got there right at 7pm, which happens to be their closing time (Ok, what eating place closes at 7 on a Friday?..), so after much consideration, we got Ceaser's Pizza instead. So much for trying something new!

Saturday turned out just perfect! Sunny, warm. Gabe played his first game where he wore shorts and was comfortable. He is not the greatest player, but it seems a little unfair that his coach gives him so little chance to try. Seems like he got the "good" players on the field for most of the game, and when he knows that our score is far ahead where we won't lose, he lets the "second class" players get on the field too.

After the game kids enjoyed spending time with their friends, playing games. Meanwhile, Tim, Larissa and I went to the Adidas Employee store to use our 50% Intel discount. I got myself some new running shoes and a backpack at an unbeatable discount. Larissa got shoes and a hoodie too.

Found a used child size Wave Stick on Craigslist (more of Jon's size), bought it, and kids enjoyed learning a new skill:

It took Gabe no time getting a hang of it. Jon will take a little longer.

Sunday started off sunny, but then it drizzled on and off all afternoon. I managed to do some yard work, and made Larissa help me. She wasn't too happy about it, but got over it pretty fast.

Funny thing.
We did an Easter Egg Hunt at the house. I placed eggs (filled with prizes and candies) all over the first floor. What I didn't realize it that I had some cookie ingredients set out too. Without thinking, Jon grabbed a raw egg off the counter, believing he found a hidden one. Two seconds later he figure out his mistake and put it back on the counter, but didn't make sure it was secured. Of course, it rolled off the counter and broke! I am just glad he didn't place it in his bag with the rest of the plastic eggs!

Fun weekend!

April 16th

2011-04-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

Even though it's already mid-April, the temperatures are staying low. This whole week was mostly rainy.
On Thursday Intel provided us with four free tickets to the very first Timbers home game. Tim was very excited to go and agreed to take three kids with him, but then it didn't look so appealing the night of the game. It poured down pretty much all day and only got worse when they got to the game. Their section was not under any covers either. All the seats were wet, so no one would sit down. Everyone stood up the entire game.
Tim made a wise decision and left shortly before the end of the game. With 19,000 fans there, many drinking, and most heading to the MAX station after the game, he would've regretted staying any longer.
BTW, Timbers won!

On Friday Larissa had a science fair at school. Her project didn't win any major recognition, but that doesn't matter. The only issue I had was that some kids clearly had their parents make the presentation for them! Larissa was given the project to work on and the materials to use, whereas some kids had projects off the list and some elabarate supplies. Oh, well, I wonder who will actually learn from the experiments... Kids or their parents (who did it for them)?

On Saturday, another run, lacrosse game, kids playing outside...
Gabe had a birthday to go to, Tim committed to trying another recipe for making Russian Borscht, the rest just enjoyed the evening and caught up on some TV shows.
Oh, yeah, soup was great. Even Gabe who eats practically nothing, complimented the chef.

On Sunday we all headed to the Hillsboro Mail library to get some books and to feed the ducks.

Larissa got all dressed up, planning on joining her friend at a church later in the day. A pretty dress, hair is curled, white stockings... Well, that didn't last long. Twenty minutes into hanging out by the pond, she wiped out. Knees skinned, wrist and chin scratched, stockings ripped... That's Riss for you.

To finish the weekend, Larissa and I volunteered at the Pass-it-On sale to benefit Eastwood PTA. Four hours of sorting old clothes is about all I can take in one sitting!

April 9th weekend

2011-04-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

Another Saturday run for Tim and Miranda, another Saturday lacrosse game for Gabe.

I like that most of the upcoming games are scheduled right down a street from us, only about a 5 min drive.

This year Gabe has a pretty strong team. And, again, they won the Saturday game by a large margin. Gabe is getting better about trying to get in the middle of a fight for the ball too.

I finally got a chance to work on the fleece blankets. Had the fabric for a while... Larissa was more then happy to help. End result = three more warm blankets.

On Sunday I had to go pick up a cord keeper, which I ordered a while back and intend to use for Larissa's Insulin Pump's tubing, so Larissa and I decided to make a lunch date out of it. We stopped by a Vietnamese noodle place, Pho Tango. I ordered a chef's special and Larissa got chicken with rice. Her meal looked delish. Mine was a bit much to handle, for me. I kept thinking back to all the episodes of Bizarre Food show...

Other than expected cuts of meat I had some jello like pieces and some "bumpy noodle" looking parts. I tried most of it, but could not get myself to try the jello meat...

This Spring had been unseasonably cold and I can not wait till it actually gets warm and sunny! I am SO ready for the Summer and my vacation!

Oh, and if you were ever curious of what a teenager girl's closet looks like, here is a pick. And yes, there are plenty of shelves and hangers...

April 2nd weekend

2011-04-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Our April started off with a first Lacrosse (HALO) game on Saturday.

It was probably the worst conditions for any outdoor sports, but the game must go on!
They played two games. First game started with cold temps, wind and a pouring down rain!

After lunch he had a second game, and by that time it got much better. The sun was out, and it stopped raining.

Gabe has a really strong team this year. He is still the shortest kid on the team, and not the fastest one either, but he sure tries! This was just a practice game, so there was no official score keeping, but I am certain, our team bet the opponent by a very large margin (both games)!

Spring Break 2011

2011-03-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

Kids are always only too happy to be on vacation, sleeping in, no homework...

For the week of Spring Break Tim took a week long vacation. I don't have too much vacation time saved at work, so I only too the Thursday and Friday off.

We decided that even though Spring is here, the skiing and snowboarding season is not done. We booked two nights at the hotel near the slopes and spend all day Thursday and most of the Friday snowboarding. By the time it was Saturday, there was little energy left to go again. Instead we headed home.

Here is what Jon looked like after a long first day on the slopes and getting hit by a big whiteout:

...and here he is on the way to the hotel, that evening:

Let just say, food tasted SO much better that night, and bed was SO much more comfortable!

On Saturday morning view from our hotel window changed quite a bit, there was no snow on the ground. Everything looked peaceful!
On the way back, we made a few stops. One of them was at the store we passed by many times before, but always too early for it to be open, Babushka. I was curious to see what they had. As expected, it was just Russian food, nothing fancy, but we did buy a whole selection of foods and decided to have a Russian Food weekend!

Great times we had!

March 19th weekend

2011-03-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Gabe's official weekday practice started on Monday, so from here to June, we got most of our weeknights tied up with getting him to and from practice.

This weekend we decided to all go skiing & snowboarding, just not all at once.
I took the boys with me on Saturday and Tim took the girls up on Sunday.

We all got up early on Saturday, packed our lunches and headed to the bus pick up location. Drive was slick, but uneventful. Right with the sunrise we know it will be a beautiful day! and it was all the way till about 3pm, when some clouds came in and it started to snow.

I started my day with a second snowboarding lesson, leaving Jon in charge of teaching Gabe how to ski on the smallest hill, the "Magic carpet". It begun a little rough, with Jon expressing his frustration with the hill by laying on the snow and refusing to get up.
I decided to let the boys resolve their problems by themselves... and go on with my lesson. It paid off. By the time I was done, Gabe was already comfortable skiing. Jon was proud to be his coach and "teaching him everything he knows".After a quick lunch (with some giant hot dogs) we returned to the slopes. This time we tried out the Buttercup lift.

Both boys outlasted me by a long run. I finally let Jon go up the ski lift by himself and he did great. I don't think he needs any one's help anymore. He can do the whole skiing thing!
Ride home was very quiet. We were all so ready for a nap.

On Sunday Tim took the girls up to the Meadow Mountain. He had pretty bad luck with getting there... It snowed the night before and all the snow that melted during Saturday froze overnight...
Bus arrived an hour and a half late, so Miranda missed a morning lesson and had to wait for the afternoon one.
But even with all the travel troubles, everyone had great time. Many good stories to tell us and much excitement to share.
Looking forward to next time!

March 12th weekend

2011-03-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

What a busy week!

On Tuesday Gabe had a concert at Liberty High School. All the Hillsboro' Elementary, Middle and High school bands performed, a couple of songs each.
Liberty band did the grand finally. Great vibes, as always.

On Wednesday Miranda had Hillsboro's chore performance. Everyone did a great job! From the soloists to the beginners' group.

Friday night I took Larissa to the rehearsal for the upcoming American Girl fashion show. The show is a fund raiser for the Gales Creek camp. A camp for children with Type 1 diabetes. Larissa went to the camp last three Summers and loved it. It is only a week long (for each age group), but kids make wonderful friends and learn to better take care of their diabetes.
Right after the rehearsal, we darted to a "Craig's List" location where I bought a used snowboard/bindings/boots set for a great price. Now I have my own equipment! It just needs a little "tuning".

Saturday was a bit insane for me! Tim went skiing with his friend, so I was left trying to get three kids to three different location, all at the same time.

First I dropped Miranda off at her meeting place for a 9am run, then Gabe at a coffee shop (waiting for a 10am lacrosse practice), then off to the fashion show by 9am (bringing Jon along). At lunch I had to run back, collect Miranda and Gabe and bring them home (with Jon). Then, I went back to the show for a 3pm session. Afterward, a quick stop at a couple of stores at the shopping center we were at, then home!

On Sunday Tim decided to take Jon skiing on a whim. They both had a great time and had many stories to tell upon their return. Looks like Jon is a natural and needs little directions, since he is still at the age when he is quite fearless.

March 5th weekend

2011-03-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

On Friday kids' school had a BINGO night. We all went. Earlier that day I donated a bag full of "safety" things for the giveaway, and we ended up taking home the final prize of the night. A basket filled with hot chocolate mix, coffee mugs, a board game and a pass to the Out of This World Pizza for a family. Yeah!

On Saturday Larissa and I went to our first snowboarding lesson at the Mt Hood Meadows ski resort. We caught the shuttle bus to get up there (much easier than driving over two hours ourselves), and since they dropped their price, there was no question that we would've payed more in just gas to drive.We had a little bit of trouble locating our exact pick up location, but once we saw a few more people hanging out, dressed in snow jackets at 6:30am on a warm day, we knew we were at the right place.

Unfortunately, there was an accident ahead right before we got to the ski resort, and we ended up sitting in traffic for over an hour. That threw our lesson/fun schedule off. Lessons started at 10am, and we didn't get in till 10:30. We were forced to take a 1-3pm lesson instead. Our bus wanted us back on at 3:45, so there was very little time left to play after the lessons. In fact, we barely made it back on the bus in time, after making all the rental returns.

We both had a great time, and definitely learned a lot! I still have two lessons/rentals/lift tickets paid for, and looking forward to going back.

Gabe started new season of lacrosse. Very first practice, and you couldn't ask for a better weather. Sunny, warm, perfect!

On Sunday we took it easy, had a lunch out, did light shopping, and stopped by the playground. Beginning to feel some muscle pain!

February 26th weekend

2011-02-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

We actually has a snow day on Thursday! Most of the snow was gone by that afternoon, then more came down, but quickly melted away, but this means that there is lots of fresh snow up in the mountains!

This Saturday we had to split into two groups. Tim, Miranda and Gabe went back to Mt Hood Meadows, and Larissa, Jon and I spent the day in town.
Larissa had a fitting for an upcoming fundraiser fashion show for American Girl line. They had to make sure she is the right size. Larissa got to try a few sets on, and pick the one she liked the most. Perhaps, she will be able to model it. If not, no big deal. It's all for a good cause, to raise money for Gales Creek Camp, camp for kids with Type 1 diabetes. She went to that camp last three Summers, but will not be going this year. We have other vacation plans, unfortunately...

On the way back, we stopped at the mall, had lunch, did some shopping. Jon finally got the Build a Bear's bear he wanted, the Star Wars bear. He named him Anakin... Go figure!
Quick stop by LEGO store. Jon made out with a sword and a shield from the Atlantis movie.
Back home to make hot dinner from the frozen folks coming home from the ski trip!

Sunday was slow. Had lunch at Paneras Bread's. Yummy, as always!

February 19th weekend

2011-02-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

This Saturday Gabe and I went to the Mt Hood Meadows for another snowboarding session (for him). Although, I didn't work up the courage to get on skis or a snowboard this time. Its' been so long, I don't know if I still have the skill to keep my balance on two wooden planks, let alone one! I used this trip to keep Gabe company and to asses things in general.

Aside from forgetting my pre-packed lunch in the fridge at home, we had a great time. I packed plenty of snacks and drinks to eat in place of my lunch, and Gabe was more than happy with an all beef hot dog and fries.
One bad news, my Digital SLR camera broke. Nothing obvious, it just stopped working. Of course, that happened right after I took two photos on arrival, so no great pix from this trip... I though that cold temperatures had something to do with it, but even after we were back, it wouldn't work. I am guessing it's time for a new camera!

On Sunday we went back to Big Al's to bowl. I think kids are loosing their excitement of bowling. They all got tired rather fast. So, now we know, two games max. They have no patience for more than that.

After bowling, we went to Salvador Molly's restaurant for late lunch. We have seen it featured on one of our favorite shows Men Vs. Food and wanted to try out their Great Balls of Fire (habanera fritters with habanera salsa).
When we arrived, we found that a whole place was contaminated with peanuts (LOL), they were offered to each table in a bowl, to snack on. As you know, Gabe is deadly allergic to peanuts, so we stayed, but took extra precautions. No nuts at the table, we wiped it clean, and made sure waiter checked on other foods for nuts... Gabe was a little worried, but all turned out ok.
I didn't want to do their 5-ball challenge, but was really curious, so we ordered two, just to taste. That was a good decision! I ended up eating most of it, and I KNOW I could do the challenge, but what that did to my stomach was SO not worth it! I had to take medicine just to feel better later. Plus, I couldn't really taste the food served...
All in all, Food quality was OK, waiter staff was not great, place is small, parking is horrible. Probably wont's be going back.
After the restaurant we stopped at the Uwajimaya store, just to find out that my wallet was missing!! Lucky for me, apparently, it was left behind at the Salvador Molly's, so we made another trip to that place... and I was thrilled it was found!

February 12th weekend.

2011-02-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

I built kids a play house in the downstairs coat closet out of the giant LEGO Castle pieces. It is in the sloped part of the closet, which is just the right size for them, it doesn't take away from the space currently used by coats, and there is an electrical outlet, so they can play a portable DVD player or plug in a light. They just loved it!

On Monday we had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory with some old friends from Colorado Springs (who are now residing in Arizona). It sure is nice to have friends. I just with we didn't all live so far away from all of them.

Found out that Gabe has a cavity and took him to the dentist on Tuesday. Instead they cleaned his teeth and scheduled another appointment to get a cavity taken care of... What we thought was a baby tooth turned out to be a permanent molar! Sigh...

On Saturday, another ski trip for Tim and Gabe. Feel more prepared this time! They, again, both had lots of fun. Next week Gabe is allowed to go any slope... that will be interesting!

While boys were out, the rest of the kids went to see a Yogi Bear movie while I run some errands. Then we cooked up a hearty meal for the "snowboarders" to come home to. And I made some fruit kebabs.

On Sunday we made another trip to Big Al's for some bowling and arcades. Tim sat out because his wrists were sore from Saturday.

When home we all got ready for the Valentine's Day (Monday). I even made what I thought was a boy-ish version of a design for Jon to wear to school, but he flat out refused. He is just not into holiday dress-ups. Larissa on the other hand, went all out with a dress, and a curled up hair, and red nails!

On Monday kids found small presents on a kitchen table. Larissa got an earrings and necklace set. Miranda got a home made ring, silly bands and a bar of chocolate. Gabe got an add-on pack for the Spores game and a user guide. Jon got an X-Box soccer game he wanted. Tim got a card and some heart shaped (fat free) gummy candies.

Febriary 5th weekend

2011-02-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

The week started off with a day off from school on Monday for all the kids and continued with a Tuesday off for the Middle and High school students. Naturally, I didn't have a day off from work, as it is not always a paid holiday, so I had to come up with something to keep kids busy. Afternoon at the Skate World it is!

Kids had a great time playing games, spending money on junk food and on a claw machine. I think Gabe is slightly obsessed with getting a prize and almost always ends up spending all of his allowances on it...
After renting their roller blades for Larissa (the only one who doesn't have her own skates that fit anymore), and her getting some serious blisters from the rentals, I ordered her own pair that same night.

Later on Monday I tried a new recipe for the candied orange peel. It came out great! I will try to perfect it even more the next time with all the "lessons learned".

On Tuesday morning Larissa finally gave up on trying to grow out her banks...

I think she looks better with them short, but she disagrees, and tried changing her mind in the middle of a hair cut... Too late!

Wednesday was my birthday. We did a low key birthday lunch with Tim and a couple of my great friends from work. They took me to a great sushi place, and, as expected, I ordered too much, but ate it all! Final touch = birthday ice cream tempura!

On Saturday Tim and Gabe went on their very first ski trip together! They scheduled a ride, rental, and classes through the Hillsboro Ski Club, and both tried snowboarding for the first time.

Needless to say, we ended up buying a number of "essential" items before the trip. All the things you never need, unless you go skiing...
Bus took off at 6:00am and brought them back at 5:30pm. A long day for sure, but they are both looking forward to the next three weekends already.

Meanwhile, Larissa and I attended a weeding reception on a Saturday night. Started off rough. We somehow left her glucose meter behind and had to turn around and go back to get it... Since we car-pooled, we made our friends late to the ceremony :-( However, reception was great!

On Sunday I took a wire-ring making class and created quite a collection of inexpensive rings for Larissa. Knowing how easy she looses things, I won't feel bad if she lost on of these.
Rest of the day spent watching a Super Bowl game and eating finger foods. Good times for sure!

January 29th weekend

2011-01-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

We spent most of the Saturday waiting on Larissa's chess tournament at a local Elementary school. She played five games and won none :-(

I am guessing more practice is in order.

I stopped by the house while she was playing and brought Jon and Miranda over. First, we stopped by Starbucks, where we tested a Face Time app on iPhone, then school playground for Jon.

As usual, Jon stole the show with his goofy personality. Next thing I know, he is playing tag with older kids...

I used my waiting time to start a new crocheting project. A baby blanket for Larissa's teacher.

Sunday was another fun but unproductive day. You got to have some of those to wind down!

January 22nd weekend

2011-01-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

Weather started cold and rainy, but quickly turned into a sunny dry weekend.

Larissa started school choir on Friday, it meets after school and kids miss their school bus, which means "there goes another lunch break" for me. Luckily, Jon is allowed to stay with her, so that's one less thing to worry about.
On the way to pick them up I exchanged my mailed in flier for a free weekend pass to the Gem Fair. I always end up buying more than I need. All the shiny things just draw me right in. It's a girl thing, I think.

On Saturday Larissa and I run some errands, then off to the Wedding shower for my co-worker. On the way we discovered a hazelnut store in Cornelius and HAD to go in and buy some treats. That alone made the trip well worth it.

Later that night Miranda had a Formal Winter dance to attend. She got a new dress just for that.

On Sunday we decided to check out Big Al's morning bowling special, plus kids have been begging to go bowling for a very long time. We had a blast!
Jon bowled with the bumpers and even managed to get a strike. Larissa tried with and without the bumpers and settled on "without". Gabe had to downgrade his bowling ball from 10 to 9 lb and had much better luck, but kept unsuccessfully trying to curve the ball...

We all had a great time and agreed to do this again soon!

January 15th weekend

2011-01-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

Another fast weekend...

Tim and I tried a new sushi place. We both really liked it, and will probably try going there again soon.

Main event for the weekend was Miranda's Orchestra performance on Saturday. We had a little confusion about the start time, so to be safe we showed up at the earlier suspected start time. We were 30 min early... but got to see part of the rehearsal.

We sat in the back row, so that I could stand up to take pictures without blocking any one's view.

With the constant rain all weekend long, there wasn't much to do. On Sunday, we stopped by the library, got some books, then fed the ducks. Kids always have fun trying to select the ones "they are feeding" and making sure their feed goes to the right ones.

Monday was a day off from school and kids got a chance to catch up on their sleep, games and TV shows.

2011. The school is back on.

2011-01-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

Worst thing about vacation is the end... It's always difficult for the kids to get back into their daily routines. Getting up early in the morning, doing their homework...

Not much happened at our house this weekend. I did a lot of cleaning, trying to de-clatter my closet, sort out my projects. I only left the house for a few shopping trips. One of the trips resulted in a new hat for Jon. He wore it to our long planned lunch at McDonald's and then all day long afterward.

It is getting cold and there is prediction of the snow coming this week. Kids are excited and hoping for a school cancellation. I am not too excited, since I still have to drive to work on ice and defrost my car every morning...

Happy 2011!

2011-01-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

what is better than a week off from work?.. Nothing!!

Not sure if you can make out, but kids really liked their book lights (Christmas presents).

We didn't do much going out, but we were successful in catching up on the movies and eating good meals.

On Monday we finally got around making our candy sushi. Not everyone wanted to participate in making them, but there was no shortage in volunteers when it was time to eat them (and the supplies leftovers).

Later in the night we finally got a chance to stop by my manager's house and see all the Christmas lights her family puts up every year. We were not disappointed and even got a candy-canes from the family, which totally impressed Jon. Later he asked me: "Isn't that cool, how we ring a doorbell, they open the door and they have candy-canes to give us? I wish I had a house like that..."

On Tuesday Larissa took her first sewing class at Jo Ann's store and made a pillow case. We loved it so much, the next day we made seven more! I guess now you know what you are all getting for Christmas next year!

On a New Year's eve we played some fun games like Christmas Trivia, scavenger hunt, etc. None of the prizes were great and many were more of a joke than anything else.

Remember how Jon helped me pick those out? Well, he was quite disappointed when he ended up with a few of those. The obvious question was "what did you expect?.."

We did some party popper that came with a paper crown, a prize and a joke.

Champagne (and non-alcoholic drinks) were poured.

Everyone was able to stay up past midnight!

Best wishes in 2011!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

and then it was Christmas!
Even though, everyone knows "when" Christmas is going to arrive, we all still manage to not be ready for it..

As kids are getting older, their demands and wishes get more and more expensive too.

I took a week off between pre-Christmas and a New Year, as I try every year. This is my chance to spend more time with the kids while they are home on a Winter break.

Thursday morning Jon and I managed to sneak out of the house for an early breakfast. His choice - IHOP... at first I wasn't too thrilled, but went anyway, and I was pleasantly surprised with their menu's improvement.
Jon chose mixed fruit bowl and a side order of turkey bacon (kids totally love it). I got some eggs and ham with a side of banana bread french toast. It was actually good.

While at breakfast, Jon and I decided to stop by the Dollar Tree store next door and get some prizes for the Christmas eve or New Year's eve games. I don't think Jon realized then that "he" might end up with some of his choices... later about that.

On Friday we cooked up a bunch of finger foods and deserts. Kids helped me decorate Oreo Balls, which we dipped into melted chocolate and covered with whatever we felt like. Kids kept adding sour worms to it.

We finished the night playing Kinect games.

Larissa left Santa some milk and freshly baked mint cookies...

It payed off, Santa left some presents for the kids

Even the big ones...

By the way, getting all dressed up for Christmas Morning was NOT my idea. Kids surprised me with the shirts and ties on.

Later in the weekend I made two sets of hand warmers, one for Larissa and one for me. They sure feel nice, I am wearing mine right now, as I type.

December 18th weekend.

2010-12-21T10:29:00.000-08:00

On Thursday night we all went to see Miranda sing in the Liberty High School choir for a Winter Holiday performance. As expected, another smooth performance, thanks to Ms Eucker (their teacher).

Friday afternoon I helped out at Gabe's school, decorating gingerbread houses, that school later plans on donating to the local shelters. None of the houses looked the same or like the picture on the kit's box, but all the kids had fun making them:

Same night the whole family went to a Mandolin Orchestra concert. It was another sold out performance. We all had a great time listening to the Christmas music. Jon was determined to fall asleep (being that it didn't even start till 8pm) and Tim was determined to keep him awake. That was pretty fun to watch.

On Saturday we had a quiet lunch at Panera Bread then later went to a Christmas party at the neighbor's house. We finally got to meet and talk to some of the neighbors. Looks like most of them are retired, stay home couples, which makes me happy, because I know that there is always someone at home if my kids need assistance.

On Sunday we decorated our gingerbread houses and displayed them at the kitchen table:

Only to find them looking like this on Monday:

I made kids re-add the new layer of candies to the houses. Let's just say, I was not happy that night!!

December 11th weekend

2010-12-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

No doubt, the Oregon rainy season has started. I think it rained the whole week, on and off.

Saturday started with some heavy showers. We all got up early for the Elementary School's Chess Tournament. Both Larissa and Jon are in the club, and they were both scheduled to play non-competitive games. Just as I was afraid, Jon refused to play any games with strangers, despite his teacher's high praises. How frustrating (for me)! I decided not to push the issue, even though on the inside I was pretty pissed off.

Larissa played a total of six games. Some against kids on her level, and some against a higher level. In total she lost three and tied three.

After a while Jon worked up the nerve to play one game. I think he just wanted to make peace with me... The game was pretty quick, Jon lost, but I didn't really care. I am just glad he tried.

On Sunday I took Larissa out for lunch. We ate at what is now becoming our traditional lunch place, Hot Pot 'n Sushi. Followed by a quiet evening at home with a great slow cooked chicken dinner.

December 4th weekend

2010-12-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

I took off a couple of days around this weekend, to make it a four day weekend for me and because kids didn't have school on Monday.

Friday was a "Civil War" game and kids wore "Oregon Ducks" color and t-shirts to school. I bought Gabe a shirt to wear on top of a t-shirt for the "Ducks" day, but when he put it on in the morning, I found out that store forgot to remove a plastic security tag! So much for wearing that... of to the store I go.

Since Jon didn't have school on Friday, we went out for breakfast and did some light shopping. When we stopped by the Old Navy he noticed a mannequin and immediately asked me to take a picture of "me and Dad. Just make sure his head is not in the picture"...

Can't say that I did much though over the weekend. We did get and then decorate a Christmas tree. Larissa also put together a small Christmas Village on a coffee table. At some point I had to stop her, because just like with anything else, she tends to go overboard. When she started adding a foot tall angels to a village with 6" houses, I had to intervene.

On Monday we went to see the Megamind movie. It was pretty cute. Thanks to Intel it didn't cost us a penny!

I tried taking a picture of all the kids, but Jon realized I was doing it and tried to run out of site.

Happy 2010 Thanksgivings Day and a Black Friday to all!

2010-11-29T14:48:00.000-08:00

The week of Thanksgivings Day started off cold, with the temperatures dropping well below a freezing level. Larissa kept chanting that she REALLY-REALLY wanted some snow. The rest of the kids didn't care, as long as the school was canceled. Their wish came true on Tuesday.
Everyone got to sleep in just a little longer than they would if there was school, but by 8am we already had Gabe's friends knocking on the door, asking if anyone wanted to come play outside. Gabe didn't want to, but Larissa and Jon did. Even with the hand and feet warmers, they didn't last long. Too cold to play outside we ended up hosting a video game party with a few of the neighbor kids in attendance.

On Wednesday Jon, Larissa and I took some home-baked goods and some juice to school for a Teachers Appreciation breakfast (that was initially scheduled for Tuesday). I took half a day off from work to finish up my feast shopping. I just beat all the big crowds too.

Thursday started off early for me. I woke up at 5am (without any alarm set) and started getting things ready. Turns out that my 20 lb turkey was a little to big to fit into a slow cooker (as I initially planned) and had to go into oven. Larissa helped me with the cranberry sauce and boys just helped by staying out of my way. By noon even Miranda was up, so we sat down for a really nice meal. I have to say, everything was just perfect!

After eating our meal we attempted to do our typical photo session, where we all sit on the couch all dressed up and ready, then one of the kids starts throwing a fit, then another one does, I take a million of photos with a hope of getting ONE decent picture, then I get frustrated, give up and we all watch TV...

Here is the shot I find most humorous:

and here is what it felt like:

Why, oh why do I even try?..

As we were finishing up our long day, Jon was already fast asleep, Miranda in bed, Gabe and Larissa started asking me questions about Black Friday. After some thinking I told them get in the car, I will show you what it's all about! So, at midnight we headed out to a new adventure.

Old Navy was already open and all the good stuff long claimed. The line went all the way around the store and back out. Totally crazy! For what?... I got all the same deals online later on!

there was no way I was going to stay in line for a $5 break!

I hope my kids learned a lesson and won't try this any time soon. :-)

We stopped by the Krispy Kreme doughnut, hoping to bring a treat home, but they were closed. I guess there is no Black Friday there:

Better luck another time!

Almost Thanksgivings weekend

2010-11-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

Typically, it starts getting busy at school right before the Winter break. Between the tests, the school papers due, and all the various school performances, it is sometimes challenging to keep up with everyone schedules...

On Thursday our Elementary school had a fundraiser at McDonald's. Not my first choice for the dinner solution, but once in a while, for a good cause, why not?..

On Friday Jon had his classroom Fall performance.

All the kids in his class lined up and sang for us. The, we sat at the table and did a craft together. Nice to take a break from work and spend it with your child.

On Friday night we had a crazy idea of going to Krispy Kreme doughnuts and getting a treat. Why not?..

(not sure where my pictures went... hmmm... Gabe?! sigh...)

We got two dozen doughnuts (because it is hard to choose), a few drinks and had a blast.

Saturday and Sunday was quiet, getting ready for a predicted cold weather with snow, and shopping for the Thanksgivings Day food (oh, and finishing up all the doughnuts)...

Fall Performance - middle school band 2010

2010-11-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

This Tuesday Gabe's Middle School Band had a Fall performance.

It opened with three pieces played by an Intermediate Band, followed by the Middle school Choir's set of songs, then to the Advanced Band (where Gabe is playing a euphonium) for three more pieces, and finished by the High School Marching band number.

Everyone had a great time and I have to say that Advanced band was much better than I expected! So very proud of Gabe!

One thing was very noticeable... How much smaller Gabe is than the rest of his band. He was probably the smallest kid with the biggest instrument in the group. Although, we have to remember that most of the kids in the Advanced band are eight graders and Gabe is a young seventh grader.

Once Gabe was onstage, sitting in a back row, all we could see was a little bit of his horn. Back row, fourth player from the end.

November 12 weekend

2010-11-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday Larissa got a call from the Grocery Outlet store and found out that she won a coloring contest. She got the first place that came with a $25 gift card for the store. We didn't waste any time and got a bunch of food for the house. Thanks Riss!

On the weekend we watched some movies, and I did some jewelry projects. Nothing too exciting. Lunch with Jon and Larissa at Hot Pot n' Sushi was pretty much the highlight of the weekend.

Kids ordered their usual, fried calamari for Jon and a Spider sushi for Larissa. I did most of the eating though.

On Sunday we asked Gabe to clean our older neighbor's driveway (he has a giant tree in the front yard that is dropping leaves at a high rate) and next thing we know two of his friends grabbed some tools too and got to work. As a reward I took all the boys to McDonald's for a treat. It doesn't take much to do a good deed and it sure doesn't take much to show someone a gratitude for the job well done!

Happy 10th Birthday Larissa weekend

2010-11-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

Our weekend started long before Saturday.

Monday was Larissa's theater performance. It was not at all like the ones put on by a previous teacher. Perhaps it's the stile that didn't agree with us, but we were quite disappointed... Larissa also decided not to attend next session, so I had her un-enrolled.

On Thursday, the 4th, it was Tim's birthday. Since it was a weeknight with work and school, we didn't make any big plans. Tim got a Kinect system for Xbox360 and spent the night playing it with the kids, while I attended my last Sketching class. Nice dinner and a relaxing night watching TV was just a perfect way to end the day.

On Friday night I had tickets to see Filmmusic performance. Initially I had two tickets for Tim and Larissa to go, but then we scored two more free tickets. Tim didn't seem interested, so I took Miranda, Larissa and Jon along. We really didn't know what to expect. We knew that we will be seeing an old movie and there will be live music. What we didn't know is that there will also be actors on stage reading all the lines from the Gulliver's Travel animated movie, orchestra, soloists, and a group doing the sound effects. We had a blast watching the performance and would probably do this again!

Saturday was Larissa's 10th birthday. We didn't feel like making a cake, so I baked some cupcakes. For some reason my batch only made eight cupcakes (I was hoping for 10), so I lined them up like a Roman numeral "X" for 10. I think Russians have an expression for that "Necessity is a Mother of invention". I AM Russian after all.

All Larissa wanted was to go shopping at Justice store, and a Build a Bear store. We accomplished the first. I simply didn't have enough energy to do the latter. Another day!

Quick lunch with Mom to follow at Quidoba's, then home to play Kinect!

Halloween 2010 weekend

2010-11-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

As usual, we waited till last minute to decide what characters we want to be this year. In past, I think, the issue is that we have collected quite a few costumes over the years and with that much selection (even is most of them are now too small), we just don't know what to do.

On Friday we went to Tim's work Halloween party. We got there a little late, so finding a parking spot was not easy. After checking in at the front table, kids went around, trying to get their card stamped with the needed three stamps, so that they could enter into a prize drawing. We were there about an hour and that was just enough time to stay in three long lines... and get the three stamps... We didn't even get a chance to go through a scary town set outside.

Saturday was just another day, spent mostly at the Toyota dealership. Jon, Larissa and I went in for a 7am appointment, dropped the truck off, and went out for breakfast at the Black Bear.

Kids discovered a jukebox

After hanging out there for a while, we walked back to the car shop and spent another few hours there watching kids' movies, browsing the web...

Sunday - Halloween. At the last minute we decided to change Larissa's costume a bit, and headed out to the Goodwill store. We found a perfect dress for her zombie-princess look. We almost felt bad cutting up the dress, but it was so worth it. Make up touches added to it and she was one cool goth girl!

Here is a closer look at Larissa's makeup:

Jon dressed as a skelleton and Gabe as a Scream character (how original...)

October 23rd weekend

2010-10-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend I spent coordinating a variety of sleepovers. At least it seems like that's all I did...

Oregon Fall is finally here. It rained at various speeds through the weekend, so there was little desire to be outdoors. That's a perfect weather to catch up of long ago started projects. I finally completed two of the three collages and hung them up in the hallway. Not perfect, but I really like them! I also had to compromise on one of the sets. There wasn't a long enough frame to fit all the images, and I certainly wasn't going to special-order a frame for what is meant to be a low budget project. Taking out one photo did the trick!

On Saturday we had insulation guys come in and redo insulation in the crawl space. I can already feel like the house is warmer. Or, maybe, someone cranked the heat up... Not sure yet...

Afterwards, Jon and I stopped by the Home Depot to pick up a new air filter. Turns out Home Depot sells pumpkins! Score! One less stop to make.

For some odd reason, Jon really likes pushing a shopping cart...

Tim found out that Fred Meyers store now sells Jelly Belly's in bulk. Must be new, there was no price posted anywhere. He couldn't decide which flavor to get, so he was about to just randomly try them all... nah! Just kidding!

On Sunday I volunteered at the Pass It On kids' consignment event on behalf of our kids' school. I spend four hours keeping kids' clothing in order, then sorting it out at the end. I think it will be some time before I have a desire to clean out MY kids' closets...

October 16th weekend

2010-10-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I didn't post any updates for the last weekend. Could be because it was a pretty ,slow and quiet weekend. Not much happened...

Gabe decided to learn BMX bike and spent most of the weekend riding up and down our street, jumping curbs, etc.

We fumigated the house to get rid of the spiders, so I took Jon and Larissa out to the store and made a stop at Star Bucks, where we enjoyed our food and drinks, and tried to absorb as much sun as we could. This could be our last chance for a while...

A while back Jon asked me to leave an egg in vinegar (which we have done before), but this time I kept forgetting to take it out. Finally, we took the egg outside and found out that it swell up so much, it wouldn't fit out of the jar opening. Seeing how this egg was sitting out raw for a couple of weeks, I sure didn't want to break it. I can only imagine the smell...

I finished my shelve for the kids' bathroom.

We were so busy doing nothing, we forgot about the Family Art Day at the Hillsboro Art Center... Oh, well, at least we caught up to all the missed TV shows...

On Tuesday, Miranda had a Fall Choir performance. Every one's performance was very well delivered and we all enjoy watching High School students do something productive ;-)

October 9th weekend, more or less...

2010-10-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

This was the week when I couldn't wait to get through and be done with. It seems like there was so much scheduled that I was worried that I will forget something really important, like getting a cake for Jon's birthday (which almost happened...).

On Friday kids didn't have school, so I signed Larissa up for a day long Drama Camp. It was held at a local high school, and even though it didn't turn out to be as exciting as I expected, kids seemed happy to be there. Larissa watched a movie, learned a song, played with make up, and made some friends.
She still needs to learn to speak up when it comes to her diabetes though... I told the teachers that she needed to test regularly and they had no issues with it, it was Larissa who didn't know how to get their attention and get a break to test. She ended up leaving her meter in a lunch bag and only testing once, right before lunch... Grr! Needless to say, I was worried because she wouldn't text me her latest #s. But it worked out ok, she was within norm when I picked her up at 4:30pm. Kids put a few musical numbers onstage. Here is Larissa's group - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsEaW_9Jxpw
She is on the left left, black pants, white shirt.

Saturday started off with a steady rain. Not a good day to spend outside. Luckily, Jon's 6th birthday was scheduled indoors. We booked a party room at a movie theater with the movie and cake to follow up. A few kids cancelled at the last minute. When we got to the theater, we were told that movie time had shifted and we need to rethink the order of cake/movie/presents... Ok, I thought, let's just try to do this as fast as possible. Success! We did miss all the previews and a few minutes of the movie, but kids didn't seemed to care.
Cake was ok, not great, and all the red die... wow!
We did get to see the giant movie projectors and a huge ice machine, which quite impressed the kids.

After getting all the kids back to their parents we went home and I prepared the old fashioned "carb load" for the family, I was getting ready for my (next day) 2010 Portland Marathon. I know that "carb loading" is not necessary, but it's almost like a pre-race ritual. It makes you feel better.

One restless night later, I was up on Sunday at 4am (even though my alarm was set for 5am)! Still, contemplating at the last second on bailing out of the race. I really didn't train this year at all. My longest run was probably around 6 miles!!! and on top of that it was pouring down rain outside...
The typical over-achiever that I am, I decided to stick with the plan. Thank goodness I got everything set out the night before! My mind just wasn't working at a full capacity.

I managed to get ready and drove myself downtown Portland. Just as I got closer to my destination, the drizzle turned into a shower... Large crowds of runners and their families were everywhere. Most were wearing trash bags to stay dry. Some were hiding in the doorways. I realize that there is no way I can get a street parking and I have no option of being dropped off at the start line! Closest garage will do!! Parking fee is $5, which I think is a rip off since (I believe) Sunday street parking is free, but someone always profits from the other people's need. All I had was two 1$ bills and a bunch of quarters. Money is money, cant refuse it!! Hee hee.

After parking and finding my assigned corral "E", I still had to check my clothes bag in. The line was so long, I missed my scheduled wave and had to join a later one. It didn't really matter to me, since the run is chip-timed and my clock doesn't start till I actually cross the Start line. Plus, I knew this was going to be a long and slow "run" (if you can even call that a run at all).

Before I even started, I was already miserable and wet, but determined to run as far as I can, then walk the rest. I lasted 13 miles of running! then, alternating running and walking, with walking becoming increasingly longer and longer... At the end, my time wasn't great (or even good), but it was "only" ~40 minutes longer than last year's. And most importantly, I finished!!!
While running, I took a few pictures, sent a few texts to Tim, got a few encouraging texts back :-)

This is just one of them from ~ mile 17

Oh, by the way, where were YOU on 10/10/10? at 10:10am I was still running, and at 10:10pm I was heading to bed. Too tired to stay up any longer!

October 2nd weekend.

2010-10-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

This was one of the busiest weekends we had recently!

On Friday night Tim and I went on a movie Date Night. First, we made reservations at Syun Sushi, and a good thing we did, the place was packed! I guess that tells you how good their food is. Expensive too, but so worth it!

We were seated very close to a family that was celebrating their daughter/grand-daughter 16th birthday. Everything was going very nice, until she started talking about being vegetarian... What is it with the high schools kids. They seem to be all obsessed with going vegetarian/vegan. Or is it just Portland?.. Her Mom was complaining how hard it is to be a vegetarian... No kidding! Hard on a pocket! Then she moved on, expressing her concern that her daughter was not getting enough nutrients... Trust me, from where I was sitting, she was getting plenty. LOL

The movie was not very good (Wall Street), but free is always good, so no complaints.

I managed to score some free tickets to a Children Theater play and to a Winterhawks hockey game, so kids and I did both on Saturday. Since both events were in Portland, we just made a (very long) day out of it. The play was nice. Don't know how much the tickets would have been, but I would pay $10 a piece :-)

Next stop lunch at the mall, and riding escalators... which, by the way, totally freak me out (at this Mall).

We were one of the first people to arrive and claim our hockey tickets and were rewarded with most excellent seats, two hats and two bobble head dolls. Yeah!

With plenty of time before the game, we ate early dinner and kids played a little in a water fountain.

Our seats were in a second row, slightly off-center. I couldn't hoped for the better ones. At first kids were a little bored, but once we started getting players smashed into the glass in front of us, it got their attention.

I think we would like to go to another game soon :-)

A long ride home on a MAX train and getting Miranda (and her friend) after her Homecoming school dance finished out busy day.

On Sunday we also had tickets to see another movie on Intel. We saw Legend of the Guardians. Not a bad movie, but I wonder if that was age appropriate for Jon... Oh, well, he didn't seem to mind it.

Meet the author!

2010-09-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

At the last minute I found out that Laura Numeroff, the author of children's books, will be reading her latest book and signing them at a local book store.

She wrote a few series of books that became well known, "If you give a Mouse a Cookie" set, "What Grandmas Do Best" set, "The Jellybeans" set, and a whole selection of other books.

She read her latest book "Otis & Sydney and the Best Birthday Ever", talked about her career as a writer, and answered some questions. It was great to have kids meet someone whose books they read and hear her speak. Everyone had a great time.

Jon found a a book called "Don't Let The Pidgeon Drive The Bus!" on one of the shelves and wouldn't let go of it. He even tried having Laura Numeroff sign it! What a clown! I guess I know what I should get him for Christmas...

September 25th weekend

2010-09-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Ah, now that kids are getting older, Tim and I can have an occasional date night. This Friday we went out for dinner, then to a Mandolin Orchestra concert.

Dinner was not great, sadly. We went to the same place I once had a meal at, and that time it was pretty decent, not this time though... Waiter couldn't understand simple questions I was asking and kept telling me something completely irrelevant... I ordered a green curry dish with Thai noodles and I was served a HUGE dish of what appeared to be some green soup. It wasn't tasty and way way too runny. Tim's dish didn't live up to his expectations either, he swore he is not coming back to this place. Overpriced, under-delivered. Chef Ramsay would shut them down! I don't even want to know what their kitchen looked like...

On a brighter site, the concert was great!

Saturday was spent taking Jon to his friend's (Jack's) birthday party, catching up on my unfinished crafts projects and trying to clean up the house. I managed to make a big batch of chocolate fudge before taking off and when I returned I found all the kids (minus Jon who was with me) sitting at the table with an enormous size serving of fudge in front of each... I guess they liked it.

While Jon was at his friend's house I dropped by the Crafts Warehouse for a beading event and made a couple of free crafts, which gave me some more project ideas. Noooo, I need to finish all the ones I already started!

Later that day my friend Jennifer and I held a photo session for Miranda's senior pictures. My camera was acting weird and as a result I had some "good" pictures, but nothing "great" (in my opinion, anyway). Jennifer took some great shots and Miranda is using one of them for the yearbook. Thanks Jennifer, you saved me!

This is the one.

Sunday was a little slow. Again, some yard work, a couple of movies to catch up on, cook, clean, wash, the weekend is gone. Next weekend can't get here quick enough!

September 18th weekend

2010-09-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend we decided to get girls' room cleaned up a bit, so on Saturday we all went to IKEA. Tim has never been there and kids think the store is fun because you can try all of the furniture on display. Larissa and I also like the food there, and as it turns out they also have a really good deal on a hot dog meal, which made Gabe's day!

Gabe and Jon picked a dining table they liked and pretended it was theirs.

We found that WiFi at IKEA is no go, but food is still good, especially the desert.

On Sunday I took Larissa and Jon to get fresh vegetables and fruits. First we put our rubber boots on, since it rained all last night. Then, I let kids pick their veggies. Larissa found the largest zucchini ever, I hope she eats it when I prepare it, but I am doubtful...

Then, kids found a "moon with a face" shaped eggplant and just had to get it. Again, I hope they eat it too...

Next stop, Heritage apple farm. They had THE prettiest freshly picked apples and the best apple cider ever! Apples were a little tough though, so I think they need to sit out and ripen a little...

On the way home we stopped at Target and checked out their Halloween inventory... Kind of freaky, don't you think?

September 11th weekend

2010-09-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

And so we are back into our typical routine. School, birthday parties, homework, parent teacher conferences...

On Saturday Jon was invited to his friend's Ash's 6th birthday party at Safari Sam's. Since this was one of Jon's two best friends at Learning Years, we drove all the way to Sherwood to spend more time with him. Since the start of school many kids in Jon's class left daycare and it i not likely we will see them again...

Some playing around, some cake and ice cream and all the kids were wired. Just in time to head back home.
As we drove past a U-Pick farm we decided to pull over and see what they got.

Turns out, quite a bit. We only picked a bucket full of veggies, and I am pretty sure we will be coming back next weekend to sample some other things, like watermelons and zucchini too.

As for this week, we will be eating nothing but the freshest veggies you can get ;-)

September 4th weekend - school

2010-09-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

What a week!
Just as soon as came back from our trip, we quickly had to get everyone situated with their school schedules, bus schedules, school supplies.

Gabe and Larissa started school on Tuesday, Miranda on Wednesday, and Jon on Thursday.

Of course, it was Jon's very first day and of all the kids he had the hardest time facing the new page in his life.
The night before Jon was all stressing out about not knowing anyone in his Kindergarten class and Dad had to sit him down and have a long talk about making new friends. Just as he got over that stress, he had to go to school and meet his new teacher...

I bet it won't be long before he is totally comfortable with everything.

On Friday we attended an Ice Cream Social. Gabe invited himself, under the "alumni are invited" excuse. I guess that's true, we did see other recently graduated kids there too.

Summer Vacation 2010 - Canada!

2010-09-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

There is simply too many pictures and too much to cover in one simple Blog post. I will try capturing the highlights... Miles on my car odometer = 855!

We took off from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, BC on a giant ferry. Day was better than we could ever hope for. Right before boarding Jon lost a tooth. His first one!

We spent four days in Victoria and were surprised by how expensive everything was. Even the things we regularly get were almost twice as much $$.

Our hotel was decent, but there were a few issues with the level of cleanliness... Hot tub was being "cleaned" (and out of order) the entire stay there, steam room had mold on the tile floor, there were tons of crumbs under the chair cushions... Hey, but a fresh bottle of water was given to us for free, daily...

We tried to cover as many exciting locations as we could, but even with the four days in town, just simply not enough time!

Next stop was at Vancouver, BC. Busy streets reminded me of New York City. We decided to keep our car in the garage for the three day stay and did all of our sight seeing by foot.

The hotel (Hyatt) charged for everything, from the Internet access to the bottled water int he room ($5 a bottle!!). At first we were stressing about breakfast, but on the first night we got a formal letter from the hotel, letting us know that because of the scheduled demonstrations early next morning, hotel was providing continental breakfast to all the hotel guests. Talk about luck! It would've been $25 a person.

Sadly, on the next day Larissa developed a stomach issues. She couldn't eat anything, and regularly threw up. It didn't help that we hiked roughly 8 miles that day. What a trooper she is though, she kept up with the rest!

Of course, on the way home we HAD to make a stop in Seattle for lunch and see the Pike Place Fish Market.

I even found a Russian Deli and ordered a rather colorful lunch plate with two sides of Borscht (one for me, one for Tim). It was yummy!

August 21st weekend

2010-08-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

This (long) weekend was filled with activities. After a long hot spell temperatures dropped down to a comfortable 80's, and that was a welcomed change for a Friday picnic. When we attended the same company picnic two years ago temperature was in low 100's and that was just too hot to enjoy.

Picnic started at 4pm and went all the way through 9pm. We got there right after 4pm, but only stayed till ~8pm. As soon as we got there kids started collecting prizes and trinkets. With in 30 minutes we already won two gift cards, and had a bag full of yo-yo's and candy type of items. We wore swimsuits with the intention of swimming in a pool and using a giant slip-n-slide, but with everything else going on, and temperatures in a lower range, it just never happened.

Kids participated in a Scavenger Hunt, Sand Castle build, Hula contest, Bingo, Carnival games, stopped by a petting zoo, played a game of soccer, and took a walk on a trail (and that's just some of the activities). Food was good and plentiful, they even had vegetarian options.

All in all, we had a great time, until a full grown woman tackled Jon over a free t-shirt!! That is when we decided it's time to go home. We could not believe that a free t-shirt would be so important to a 40+ year old woman to tackle a five year old, after he already caught the shirt and was laying on it!! Wow! And I work with these people...

On Saturday I had planned a surprise for the kids. I bought tickets to see an American Idol Live show! Kids were trying to guess all week what the surprise was and even when we got to the parking garage of the show, they still had no clue!

We had some great seats and it was a great concert. Although, I think it was a little too late for Jon and he actually managed to fall asleep some time during a second half... That boy can sleep through anything!

To continue with a busy weekend, on Sunday we went to an Air Show. Weather kept changing from hot and sunny to rainy and cold, and then back.

We walked by all the vendors' booths, got more giveaways and samples, then sat on the blankets and enjoyed the show. After a while, we decided that we saw enough plains and left, before the big crowd would flood the traffic.

What a great and exciting weekend. Going back to work on Monday, I didn't feel like I HAD a weekend off...

August 14th weekend. Another try at Summer Camp.

2010-08-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was a little more careful bout getting all excited about Larissa's Summer Camp. Just as I found out a week earlier, so much can change so fast...

Our first Saturday stop was at LOWE'S, where we registered a while back for a kid's build. We made Bug Boxes and got free Wendy's frosty coupon, which we redeemed right after.

We then re-packed all the camping supplies and re-double-checked Larissa had everything she will need. Everyone seemed a little less excited about accompanying her to the campgrounds, so I just took Jon along.

When we checked in Larissa was happy to find out that her best friend Emily from last summer was in the same session. I hope they pick up from where they left off last year!

Jon enjoyed playing catch with one of the camp counselors while waiting for our check-in to be completed. He even agreed that he would like to stay for the week, when I jokingly asked him if he was interested...

On Sunday we got to go to Bullwinkle's park, courtesy of our work. It was predicted to be a hot day, so it was nice to start off earlier in a day and be done before it got too hot. We enjoyed everything we tried, and even the food was great.

I have to admit that I found out that I am a big chicken.... Miranda, Gabe and I decided to try a rope walking obstacle course, and after the first leg, Gabe and I bailed out... Miranda finished it and Gabe decided to try again with Dad and Jon.

Jon didn't hesitate for a moment. He took his time and he was actually a couple of inches shorter than a minimum required height, but kept going and finished the whole thing! He couldn't even reach any of the support ropes to help keeping his balance... wow, he sure showed me!
See it here (one leg of the challenge): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X35PddyagGE

August 7th weekend. Summer camp and back...

2010-08-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Larissa was so excited to finally get ready for her trip to the Gales Creek Summer Camp. When I got home after work On Friday I found all her camp gear already packed up and ready to go. She even laid out her clothes to wear the next day...

Saturday, at around noon, we all piled up in the car, Larissa even talked Dad into giving her a ride on his motorcycle to the campground, and off we went.

Just like in the past, when we got to the camp, we got a number for a check in, then talked to the nurse, a doctor, and a dietitian before we were officially checked in. Larissa really wanted to get a top bunk bed and asked us to arrive to the registration a little late, because all the bottom beds get filled in first, before they allow tenants on the top. Nice thinking, Riss!

While waiting for the registration to be done, boys played some games.

On the way back Gabe got to ride with Dad.

We thought we were all set. Little did I know, but at 1am that night I got a call from the camp's nurse, telling me that Larissa is sick and I must pick her up... right now. Apparently, she started throwing up shortly after bed time and they suspect that she might have a stomach virus. To keep the rest of the campers safe, she needed to go home, then get a note from the Doctor allowing her to return.

We finally got to see the Doctor on Monday and he suspects it wasn't a virus after all, but something Larissa ate that night. Good news!

After a few phone calls we are now getting a second chance at Summer Camp. Larissa will now attend Second Session of her age group!

Washington County Fair, July 31st weekend.

2010-08-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Is hard to believe, but the Summer vacation is almost done. We really didn't get a chance to do much of long distance mini-vacations, not even drives to the coast. We need to make sure that before the Summer is totally gone, we do something fun!

This weekend we stopped by the Washington County Fair. As expected, it was warm, dusty, crowded and overpriced. After paying $5 parking fee, we went through another $40 before we could even tell what it was spent on...

First, we stopped by the safety booth and went through a safety test and oath.

Then, Larissa tried the hammer game.

Gabe gave a grown up version of a hammer game a try too.

Kids made a set of Dirt Babies.

We checked out farm animals on display. I have a feeling this one thinks WE are funny.

Then, before we went home, Miranda talked Gabe into going on a Kamikaze ride. He barely made with a height requirement and I could tell he was a little nervous. During a ride his seat belt (an additional safety feature) came undone. So, for the rest of his ride, he was more concerned about his safety than enjoying the ride. No wonder he didn't want to ride it...

The worst part of the Fair was getting out of it. It took us (no lie) 45 minutes to get from a parked spot to the parking lot entrance! Sure makes you want to park somewhere else next time!

Hot summer weekend, July 24th

2010-07-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend!

This Saturday Intel Corporation threw a big Family BBQ for their employees at the PGE Park. Everything was free, the food, the entertainment, the prizes.
We got there just after the start time to make sure it wasn't too packed yet, and that was a pretty good decision. On the way in everyone was handed a bag for collecting their "goodies", which is always nice. Beats carrying a bunch of junk in your hands.
There was a request to bring some gently used children books for a donation. We were more than happy to get a few out of the boys' room. The only thing was asked of us is to sit down and wipe them clean before they could be accepted.

Gabe got to try a potato-sack race and got to the finish line way before anyone else.
We got to spin the prize wheel at the Disney Radio table and won a t-shirt, some stickers and posters, and a few tickets to the upcoming Air Show in Hillsboro.

After lunch we sat in the shade and cooled off with a lemonade (and a cotton candy). Even while sitting away from all the fun we couldn't help but "score" more free stuff. We were handed a couple of free Intel shirts.

By the time we left, our "goody" bag was pretty full and everyone was exhausted!

Sunday was our recovery day. We didn't go anywhere, other than a Sunday Market and a couple of stores, but instead caught up on to-do list at home.

Bike ride

2010-07-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

Trying something new... loading a video from YouTube:

Bike Ride

July 17th weekend

2010-07-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

We didn't have any particular plans this weekend, so my goal was to finish as many postponed projects as I could, do some house cleaning, and then spend the rest of my time chilling out.

Larissa attended a Summer Camp every day this week. She had tons of fun, making (high tech) crafts and learning about technology. On the last day she got to bring all her creations back home. Oh, joy!

On Saturday Larissa, Jon and I went out for a sushi lunch, then did some light shopping.

I finished pressure-washing our driveway and a sidewalk.

Jon decided that he is ready to try his bike without the training wheels. He quickly learned the concept of pedaling and keeping the balance, but now needs to work on stopping and making bike go where you actually want to go, not some random direction.

Gabe made sure to follow Jon, not that he could help him even if he wanted... (nice flip-flops with socks, Gabe...)

On Tuesday this week I got a call from the Water Department in Hillsboro. Apparently, Jon's name got picked from the Library Summer Reading Program in a raffle. He got for a water bottle, goggles, water balloons and some candy.

July 10th weekend.

2010-07-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Just as soon as we mentally prepared to deal with the hot days of Summer, temperatures dropped again. The weekend was still very warm and sunny, but as the following week started off, it got cooler and cooler..

On Sunday I took Larissa and Jon to a Lavender farm. We walked through a field of flowers, checked out local vendors selling their crafts, then for $5 we got to cut our own selection of lavender.

There were many bees on the flowers, which made me wonder if there is a lavender honey for sale nearby...

on the way out we stooped by a lama farm and (very carefully) admired the animals. Kids were afraid that lamas would get spooked and spit on them...

Independence Day 2010

2010-07-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

Looks like the Summer is finally here! It took a while, but now that it is here, it is stinking HOT!
First we have a record coldest and a record wettest Summer, then , fast forward to this week, and we are breaking records with the hot temperatures. That's Oregon for you...

This Saturday I got busy with everything I meant to do when it gets warm (and I have some free time), including cleaning a back deck, and pressure-washing the backyard cement slab, putting up Jon's "igloo" for him to play outback, and finally making those "home made pop tarts".

Jon quickly settled in his tent with a portable DVD player and pretty much spent all day there:

I had a little bit of trouble rolling out pop-tarts' dough thin enough, but I think they came out pretty good.

I think the fact that they were all gone in two days speaks for itself...

On Sunday I took kids to the store and we picked out some fireworks. Nothing crazy (not that we could with the Oregon's laws anyway). When it finally got dark we joined our neighbors and put up some firework show!

June 26th weekend

2010-07-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had only a few (but important) things to take care off, the rest was all unplanned.

First things first, Miranda's birthday. She is now 17 years old! I remember her mentioning that she never had a Boston Cream pie, so instead of a traditional sugar and dough cake we got a pie to share. I think everyone really enjoyed it!

Second important thing was to get Gabe's rental baritone horn returned to the music store and to decide if we would actually buy a Euphonium for him to use in Middle and High School band. We decided it was better money spent on buying it, rather than continuing renting it.
On Saturday we loaded in the entire family (and the instrument too) and headed to Vancouver Washington. We hardly ever go that way, so it was almost a big deal...
We had so much fun looking at everything. The store is huge and if you need something, you are sure to find it there! With all the excitement, I didn't even take any pictures!

Since we were already in Washington, I got some Sudafed, I can breathe now! (Stinking Oregon laws!)

On Sunday we realized that a strawberry season is already here and we better not miss it, it isn't very long.
Hot day, dusty roads, running through a tall grass, that's when Larissa's allergies kicked in, times ten. Poor kid had to take Benadryl, her arms got covered with red spots, and she couldn't open her eyes till the medicine kicked in.

Monday through Thursday Gabe attended a Lacrosse camp. It might have been a little more than kids bargained for. Four hours of training and playing each day... that's some Summer vacation

(Caleb & Gabe after practice)

Fathers' Day weekend 2010

2010-06-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Friday night Tim and I went out for a dinner party by our employer. Great food, many entertainment performers, fun Karaoke to watch. No camera, so no pictures to show off...

On Saturday we all went to a Beavers baseball game. Again, courtesy of our employer. We had fun doing "waves", saying hi to the "Lucky" the Beaver and watching out for the fly ball.

Sunday was a Fathers' Day. We didn't do anything crazy. Just a nice quiet dinner at home with a strawberry cake, decorated by the kids.

We also got a flower. The name escapes me (something in the onion family), but we all agreed that it must be a "Horton Hears a Who" flower.

June 12th weekend and more.

2010-06-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

(Gabe, Lucas & Will)

Once again, end of the school year is here, and I am caught unprepared. Seems like just about everything comes to the finish this week. Gabe's lacrosse tournament, my race, swimming classes and graduation from an elementary school.

On Saturday we had to split into two groups. First group is just me, and the second group everyone else (except for Miranda who went to her friend's house for a sleepover). Of course, the night before we all knew that we needed to get good rest, but there is so much to get ready. I had to make sure that I didn't forget ANYTHING!

Both groups left the house at about the same time. Gabe's first game was at 8am, and considering the predicted parking situation, Tim aimed to be there by 7am. I had to check in for my half-marathon by the same time as well.

My run went fairly uneventful. Started off in cool temperatures, then sun came out and the heat went up and by the time I finished they were approaching upper 70's. I knew by mile mark 4 that this was not going to be a non-stop run and there was no reason why I would need to push myself, so I started alternating runs with the uphill walks. I finished with 2:11:17 time and it looks like I am going to loose two toenails :-(

Gabe had three games. First was pretty miserable, his team lost with a score of 2:11 (or some similar score, just as bad). Second game was better, and they lost at a less dramatic difference. Third game was the best though. They played against a fairly strong team, and had some great plays, but lost at 3:5 (although referee recorded that as 2:7...)

On Sunday we tried to recover from the day before. We stopped to play in a water fountain, then watch a few movies.

Monday was Gabe's class picnic.

Tuesday was Larissa's class luau. She volunteered me as a parent helper...

Wednesday was a much slower day and I spent the night making sure I made enough "Thank you!" cards for the school staff, have enough flowers and gift cards.

Finally, Thursday! Last day of school and Gabe's graduation ceremony! I can't believe my little boy is moving on to a Middle school...

Gabe was always lucky with having great teachers. Ms. Marshall was another wonderful teacher. We will surely miss her!

Larissa said her goodbyes to Mrs. Smith.

and we all said goodbye to Ms. Amber (not pictured). She is moving to New Jersey. She promised to change her hair style (a lot more hairspray) and get a fake (orange) tan. She has been my school "rock" for the past two years. I hope her replacement is at least half as good.

We then had to go an celebrate end of the school year! Krispy Kreme it is!

so many choices...

By then we were ready to finish the day, but there was more.. Gabe's last swimming lesson. He had to dive at a 12' side of the pool and retrieve a plastic egg from the bottom. Success! I am told that there is only one more class that he can take. After that, he is done with all the swimming lessons.

Just as we headed home, Gabe reminded me that Larissa's friends were coming over to decorate a cake. Oops, I almost forgot.

I made a cake the night before, but I didn't prepare cake icing ahead of time. Not good. I quickly whipped sugar/water concoction, thinking that it didn't matter since all girls really wanted to do was decorate... Wrong, they actually ate the cake. I felt bad because I wasn't going for a taste, it was more of a play-cake, but kids seemed to enjoy it...

June 5th weekend

2010-06-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Friday night was a Disco Night at kids' school. All the money raised went toward a new playground equipment, so it was for a good cause too.

Kids danced the night away to the music of my generation, with a sprinkle of a modern Disney dance music, enjoyed a jump-house, and the cotton candy.

Oh, I haven't posted Jonathan's funny face in a while, so here you go!

Saturday turned out to be absolutely gorgeous! Sunny and warm. Not hot, just perfectly warm.
Gabe had two lacrosse games separated by an hour long break. Kids took advantage of a playground right next to the field.

Both games were just training for the upcoming tournament and against fellow HALO members.
I think Gabe was more comfortable being a more aggressive player against friends than strangers. That is one of the things he needs to work on, not being so darn polite...

During a second game we noticed a hawk circling the field, looking for prey... shoo, bird, shoo!

After the game we spent a quiet afternoon at home.

On Sunday Larissa went to her friend's birthday party. Somehow weather changed from sunny to pouring down rain. All the better to be inside, rollerskating.

In the afternoon we all went to see Shrek 3-D, compliments of my work. Not only we got to see a free movie, we also got a free drink and popcorn! Again, beats being outside in the rain!

Jon's Graduation

2010-06-03T15:00:00.001-07:00

Today Jon graduated from pre-school.

A little silly, since he is going to continue going to the same school and the same classroom for another year, but it's a milestone, I guess.

At the graduation ceremony all the kids were so darn cute, giggling, waiving to their parents. Every kid had something funny said about them and their future (in their own words), now that they are graduates...

Gabe and Larissa were a little jealous, since they have two more weeks of school left, but the cake back at Jon's classroom made it all feel better.

Last week in May (continuing)

2010-06-01T11:50:00.001-07:00

Here is how the rest of my crazy week went.

On Thursday night Miranda played in a Powder Puff game. Seniors vs. Juniors. Game started off a little slow, but soon enough adrenaline kicked in, a few cheats were discovered and a few minutes before the end of the game hair pulling/punch throwing started and the game was stopped. Done!

From what we gathered, this marks third year of losing for the Senior class :-(

Friday night was a little slow, just perfect before a busy weekend. We enjoyed playing basketball outside.

Saturday started early. I volunteered to help at the Children's Cancer Association Caring Cabin. When I signed up I neglected to look up it's location, so it came to me as quite a shock that in Cloverdale, which is roughly 80 miles drive! Instead of bailing out, I took extra helping hands alone (Larissa and Miranda) and we made a Girls' Day Out of it.

Weather threatened to get us cold and wet at first, but by our arrival time, it warmed up, and the sun picked out. We had a great time cutting and cleaning overgrown vegetation off the walking path by the cabin. It was so peaceful there.

Before we headed back home, we stooped at the beach. Of course we didn't expect it to be warm, so none of us was dressed to play in the water... That didn't stop Larissa. She quickly disconnected her insulin pump, and run into ocean. Clothes and all! After a while we were able to get her back on dry land and headed to the next destination. We did have to get Larissa's pants off of her and hold them out of the sunroof to get them to dry out...

We planned on stopping by the Air Museum, but got distracted by a rummage sale to benefit Search and Rescue organization. Most of the stuff was junk, but we managed to find some "hidden" treasures. LOL

At that point we decided to skip the museum and go straight to our next point. Tillamook Cheese Factory.
A quick run through a sample line, long stop at the gift shop, then some ice cream. Yummy! All the nuts too, since Gabe wasn't there.

Across the street we came across a vegetable stand next to a seafood restaurant. There was a giant pile of oyster shells

When we finally got home, I found worried "boys" awaiting our return. Apparently, my phone battery died and they weren't able to get a hold of us.

On Sunday we spent a nice family day together. Shopping for new shoes, then REI, then Wild Buffalo's for lunch, then a movie at home. Jon got a new basketball. It is a little smaller and a little lighter than an official type. He loved it and was able to score with it right away!

On Monday I felt that I really HAVE been taking it too easy with my not-training and not-running. I don't have a good excuse, just a lack of free time.

(Larissa with a mouthfull of gummies)

So, I loaded Larissa's and Gabe's bikes into my truck and drove us to my work. It has a nice 3.8 mile loop around and not usually crowded, so it's perfect for the kids to bike and for me to run.
Kids lasted two rounds, and I (according to my phone pedometer) was able to finish 9.3 miles :-)
After that, some yard work, some grocery shopping and my long weekend is all gone!

BTW, Jon thinks high heel shoes are really funny and Mommy should get a pair with the highest heel there is:

Last week in May

2010-05-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

As the end of school year approaches, all the kids have some performances, games and events to attend. This is one of those weeks when there is so much going on, Tim and I have to split the event's attendance.

On Monday Larissa had her last theater performance. The play was "Hello Shakespeare!" and Larissa had only a few lines, but it's a start. Her teacher Amanda Long is leaving for post-grad school and this was her last session. We will sure miss her, she is just great with the kids!

On Tuesday Gabe started a new swimming session and Miranda had a Spring Choir performance. Last one for the season. It was pretty good, especially the Michael Jackson mix at the end!

I guess with all the running around I didn't realize that Jon's shoes completely disintegrated... When he wears a pair, he sticks with the same set (and doesn't want to wear another pair) until I throw them away and get a new one. I think it's time!

May 22nd weekend

2010-05-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

Many things accomplished this weekend.

On Thursday Gabe performed in Part Two of an "Aunt Roddy's" play at his school. In a humorous story accompanied by a band's music.

On Saturday our day was packed with activities. Gabe had his last game of a lacrosse season. His team played against a Sunset team again, and they lost again... oh, well, better luck next season.

Right after the game we all stopped by LOWE's for another kids' build project. This week we made a catapult.

No time to spare to the pool Larissa, Jon and I go, for their last swimming lesson.

Meanwhile, Tim took Gabe (and Miranda) to the Eastwood school garage sale, where Gabe's band performed again.

Afterwards we all met at the house, ready to relax, but wait, we got more things to do! Larissa and I have a Gales Creek Camp gala to go to.

We love going to the gala, because we get to meet many many other kids with diabetes and get a chance to chat with their parents.

As always, there were many great items up for auction, and as always, they ended up more $$ than I could afford :-(

Kids had a wonderful time playing, getting their faces painted, dancing, singing, etc. By the time we got home it was already after 10pm and we were exhausted!

On Sunday I was determined to get some running done. After all, I have a half marathon coming up in a couple of weeks!!! I am getting really worried now, I haven't been really training for it, and now I also found out that Gabe has a big tournament on the same morning, so chances are, there will be no one meeting me at the finish line...

Later, as the sun picked out of the clouds, I loaded Larissa and Jon in my car and we drove to the Orenco Sunday Market to get some flowers. By the time we got there, it was pouring down full strenght... We didn't give up and went to the market anyway. Our reward was "chicken-on-a-stick" (as Larissa calls it), lumpia & hot chocolate.

Gool!

2010-05-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday Gabe's class went to see Portland Timbers team playing against Tacoma.

This was a special day with a game and other activities promoting health to kids. Most of the fans in attendance were between the ages of 8 and 15, with the exception of chaperons (such as myself).

We took a MAX train to the PGE park, managed to get all the kids in and settled, just in time for the clouds to collect over our heads. In no time we were getting rain pouring on us. Not anything unusual for Portland, we just moved up a few rows farther under the roof cover.

(these are "my" boys. I had to make sure everyone made it back safe)

During the half time we found out that some of the players were signing autographs. Since we all got free t-shirts on the way in, what better blank space to use!

Pretty soon it turned into a challenge (for me) of getting every one's signature and then a picture with Gabe taken with all the players. I succeeded!!

May 15th weekend

2010-05-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend finally felt like the Summer is here to stay. It was sunny and warm, and didn't rain till late Sunday night.

On Friday Tim and I split into two groups. He took the oldest two kids to a final lacrosse game at Liberty High School, and I took the youngest two to see movie "Up" at work (free is always good).

We had a small change of plans when I arrived to our destination. Turns out that Larissa left her insulin pump at home... so, we had to turn around and head back home, get the pump, and then go back to the movie screening. This is the time when I am thankful we don't live too far from work.

We brought along some home-cooked turkey burgers and then got some free candy and drinks at work, so needless to say, we were sitting pretty.

I think this was a first time I actually had a chance to see the entire movie without pausing it a few times.

On Saturday we had the usual, swimming classes then lacrosse game. Miranda went downtown with her friend and the rest of us went to the game. Yet another losing game for Gabe, but it doesn't seem to bother him...

After the game we had a nice family (late) lunch at Old Spaghetti factory. I still had a gift certificate from two years ago.

After lunch we got a crazy idea. We all agreed that we needed to install a new basketball hoop in our front yard. The old post that was left in the ground had to come out first. After we made that decision, we discovered that it was about to fall over on it's own anyway. The bottom part was sawed off a little. I am so glad it came down in a "controlled" fashion, because we then discovered that it was filled with cement to the top, which made it extremely heavy!

Of course, this turned into a whole weekend project. Some sledge hammering, digging, eight bags of cement and two bags of pea gravel later, we had our base installed.

It is just a matter of waiting for the cement to set in now!

PS: Oh, yes, and Tim left a little "love note" in the cement too... (picture on top)

On Sunday I also took Larissa and Jon to Orenco Sunday Farmers' market and we got some beef sticks and mini doughnuts.

May 8th weekend

2010-05-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful weekend over the Mother's Day weekend.

Friday night Larissa went to her friend's house for a sleepover and the rest of us went out to see a Liberty vs. Glencoe HS Lacrosse game. We didn't know anyone on the team, but got an email from Gabe's coach asking for attendance. We thought it would be great to learn more about the game. (and a great practice for me taking action photos)

Gabe found a great bargain, 2008 lacrosse sweatshirt for $10 and used his own money to buy it.
Jon really liked to stomp his feet when Liberty HS scored, and he didn't mind helping Glencoe HS fans cheering either.

On Saturday kids had their usual morning activities and this time it was a bit too much to keep track of... Apparently, Gabe had a team picture taken before the game and there were some money due too. Almost didn't make it into a photo, but because there was another player late, team re-took their picture and included Gabe.

We found a falcon nest on a tree nearby, after seeing a giant bird circling the skies...

Rest of the day was sunny and warm, just perfect to catch up on yard work. Gabe mowed the lawn and I continued with my digging in an attempt of making a vegetable garden. I soon found out that previous owners didn't place the sprinkling system deep enough and I couldn't do what I had in mind, instead I had to go with an above ground planting.

On Sunday I managed to do some running and cleaning before everyone woke up, then off to a Sunday Market with Larissa. We had fun eating fresh lumpia and "chicken on a stick".

Once back, we continued with the yard work. I think it's pretty much all done. At least that small area of the yard...

I do need some time for my hand to recover...

My "Mommy & Me lunch" (with Jon)

2010-05-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

This Friday I had the privilege of having a parade and a lunch in Moms' honor.

I think this is my third parade at Jon's school and it is always predictably cute! This year Jon's class was dressed in "fish" costumes which were painted by the kids themselves..

After parade we got a story read by their teacher, then lunch. Everything was so good!

At the end I got a handmade card and a treasure chest from Jon.

Inside the chest was a paper heart with "I love you. Jon".

Inside the card:

awwwe...

Another crazy cold busy weekend

2010-05-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

This week Gabe went to an Outdoor School. His class left on Wednesday and we spent all afternoon on Tuesday packing (trying to find rubber boots in his size) and reassuring Gabe that he won't need his Nintendo DS there. I did, however, agree to let him take my digital camera along... which turned out to be a wrong decision. It came back broken and no one seems to know how a big dent got there either...

Here are some pictures from Gabe's trip:

On Saturday, a day after Gabe's return we were right back into our crazy weekend schedule. Usually, Tim and I manage busing kids to their separate events, but this weekend I was volunteering at my work's Open House, so majority of busing was left to Tim.

First thing in the morning I dropped Gabe and Miranda at his game (PCC sports field). Tim took Larissa and Jon for a weekend LOWE's kids' build, then their swimming classes, then back to Gabe's game. Gathered all the kids and came over to my volunteer station.

This year I was at the best possible booth, XBox 360! I basically had to sent my kids away and make then explore other fun booths. Thanks to the Intel's generosity, all the kids had some gift to take home, a hat, a backpack, a game. Everything worked out pretty nicely!

Later that day we got around spray washing our driveway, which probably drove the neighbors crazy with noise.

Sunday was a lot more relaxed. I took kids to the Shute park for a little while and they did an impromptu performance at the Summer stage. The entire time I was thinking "I wish I had a camera!".

By Tuesday following week, I decided that my broken camera is broken for good and I must get another one. I spent quite a while on Wednesday playing with all the camera models on display at Best Buy and ended up getting an upgraded model of my old camera. I guess I am a Canon fan.

Hopefully, I will again have pictures to post.

April 24th weekend

2010-04-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

On Friday night Tim and went out on a Dinner Cruise, courtesy of our work. This is a first time in a while we got a change to go out and have a nice quiet dinner. I think it's called a "date" :-)

It was a little awkward at first, since we didn't know anyone, but had to share a table with two other couples, but once we got to know the other attendees at our table we had a great time. We talked away all night, to the point where pretty much everyone else (including the performing musicians) left the boat and the lights were turned back on, full strength, that's when we finally got up and left.

Kids did great too. two oldest watched scary movies and two youngest played games.

On Saturday we went to another LOWE's Kids' Build and made birdfeeders. I think we might do this weekly, as long as it's offered. Costs nothing and kids love it!

Then another swimming class, and off to Lacrosse game. Gabe's team still lost, but the game was much more exciting. Final score was something like 4:9.

(Gabe is in black shirt & black helmet)

Quck stp at Peet's Cooffe House for a hot treat and a newspaper read

Unfortunately, Saturday weather stayed too cool to truly enjoy it, especially when you are sitting on a cold metal bench watching a game and it starts raining...

On Sunday we had a few things to do. Jon had a birthday party to attend (Tarren's), so we made a quick stop at Target for a present, dropped him off, then Larisa and I went out for lunch at the Thai noodle place.

In the afternoon I had to take Gabe to the store to get the last of the needed items for his Outdoor School later this week. I am getting nervous already.

And, not to be outdone by his sister, Gabe lost another tooth this weekend. Not sure if "lost" is a right word to use, because Gabe was determined to lose it before Monday, so he put his best effort into speeding up the process...

Almost weekend!

2010-04-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

This morning felt a little different. For one, I was woken up by a smell of a skunk spray. Apparently, i am the only one in a house able to smell it without going outside... Great, one more thing to worry about now!

Morning started with the anticipation of tonight's dinner cruise and the worry of not making there on time.

In all the rush I grabbed a wrong book for Jon's "Show and Tell", which we didn't realize till we got to school, so I had to quickly improvise. Lucky for me, I keep a "pretty cool" (water-proof, crank) flash lightin the car, and Jon was more than happy to take that instead.

Lately he likes to wait for me by the classroom window and wave "good bye". Today was no exception, but he found me taking picture of him extremely funny...

April 17th weekend

2010-04-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

It finally started getting warmer and fells more like Spring!

On Saturday I woke up early (5:30am) and couldn't fall asleep, so I decided to do as much as I can in one day.

First thing was getting laundry and dishes, then getting Larissa to the lab for some tests. The doors open at 8am, so we got there a little before that, and already, there was a line! We were number 11. When we were done a little after 9am, we went straight to McDonald's. There wasn't going to be any time to make breakfast at that point.

I gathered the kids, got them fed, their sports' bags set, loaded them into a truck and went straight to LOWE's for a kids' build workshop. This week it was a small planter box. We had so much fun! It was much better than the experience we had at Home Depot years ago.

Tim picked Gabe at the parking lot and took him to the game and I took Larissa and Jon to their swimming class. The biggest challenge of not having Tim or Gabe with me was not being able to get Jon quickly showered and dressed after the class (in a boys’ room). After getting cut off in line to the Family Room a couple of times, I just gave up and had Larissa change in the girls' room and gave Jon a quick shower at the room by the sauna, then despite the sign asking not to change in the hallway, I made Jon get discretely (under the towel) change into dry clothes and we left.

When we got to Gabe's game we found out that they are, once again, playing against a Sunset team. Sigh... I think Tim lost score count a while back. It was something like "2 to a whole lot" in Sunset's favor.

It didn't seem to bother Gabe too much though, he just wanted to go home...

I still had things to take care of, like an oil change... I bribed Jon and Larissa with a lunch promise and they agreed to go with me. After we dropped my car off, we just went across the street. I heard there was a pretty nice Indian restaurant and wanted to check it out. I was not disappointed!

Great selection and great service!

By the time we were back home I just wanted to relax, but not so fast... Larissa asked to invite her friend for a sleepover and we agreed to let her. Kids played outside until it started getting dark, which turns out is a lot later than it used to be... so dinner time is now around 9pm!

Sunday was our "work in the yard" day.

I feel like we made so much progress! We tore out an old bench in the backyard and I got rid of all the blackberry bushes, and now we have a spot for my vegetable garden! I still got a lot of work to do though, like actually make the raised bed.

After much contemplating, Tim and I bought a new lawn mower. I don’t know if I have seen a grown man and a little boy more excited about a new toy!

Tim taught Gabe how to properly use it and Gabe mowed our front yard. He asked for a permission to do this weekly. I have no problem with that ;-)

We did run into some issues with our edger. I wouldn’t start, so we changed the oil, the air filter, the spark plug... nothing! It still won’t start! We left it to deal with next weekend!

The next thing I know, our weekend is all gone... oh, how fast the time flies when you having so much fun!

Oh, yes, let's not forget about Larissa's tooth! Although, apparently, the toothfairy did forget... oos!

Monday rainbow

2010-04-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hanging out around Gabe's practice field paid off with a giant rainbow.

I didn't have my "good" camera on me, so I snapped it with my cell phone.

Gabe suggested we go to the end of the rainbow and search for a pot of Skittles...

April 12th performance

2010-04-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

Larissa finished another theater session with an onstage performance. In this show she played two roles. One was a solder, and second was a robber.

Can't say that she memorized the lines as she should've or that she projected her voice enough, but I guess as long as she had fun, I am ok with it...

After the show Jon got onstage and performed his version of a break-dance...

Dad and Jon attended the show and recorded it for the rest of the family to see. Later after dinner , we all gathered in front of the TV and watched it together.

April 10th weekend

2010-04-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

What a great start to a great weekend!

On Friday night Tim and I went on a "date". Dinner, then a Mandolin concert. We had dinner at Syun and I never realized just how busy they get on a Friday night. Even people with reservations had to wait 15-20 minutes to be seated. Waitresses were flying around making customers happy.

There were so many dishes served and so many choices on the menu that we got a bit overwhelmed. Everything we ordered was very good, especially the dessert. Banana tempura.

Concert was great too. This was an opening night and not only all the tickets were sold out, but there were about 30 more people hoping to get a seat. They ended up letting extra attendees sit in the front foyer, with the concert hall doors' open. Next performance is in June, better get tickets now if you want to go attend...

Saturday was a totally crazy day. First, we had to get Jon and Larissa to their swimming classes, then drop Jon off at a birthday party, then head out to Gabe's lacrosse game, then pick Jon back up, etc. If only it wasn't so darn cold at the game!.. Gabe's team lost again, but this time by a lesser score difference. I think it was 2:5 (or may be 2:6, not sure)

(Gabe in action, #55, in gray pants on the right)

On the way home we stopped by Peete's Tea & Coffee House and everyone got a well deserved treat.
By the time we were home, all we wanted to do was relax.

Sunday started off slow. I got up early and managed to do a long run. This week I was up to 8.5 miles. Not all running, but as a run/walk mix. Never the less, I was feeling very accomplished for the rest of my day.
We also finally got around getting Tim's truck's maintenance up to date and Larissa's bike fixed.

The sun stayed out almost all day long and kids enjoyed playing outside all afternoon.

We went through a variety of sports/outdoor equipment. Skating, dart guns, bikes, and finished with the bubble blowing.

Easter 2010 weekend.

2010-04-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

Easter came on a cold and rainy weekend this year.

On Saturday Gabe had his first lacrosse game.
It was freezing and rainy, so first thing I did was get a hot cup of coffee to hold on to.
Hillsboro (HALO) played against Beaverton Sunset team. As soon as we saw Beaverton team, we knew that we didn't stand a chance. This picture explains it all (Gabe is in the black shirt. Other three players from the Sunset team):

I think final score was 1:6 but everyone had lots of fun playing, and that's all that matters.

Later in the day I found out that ducks are back in our backyard, and I learned that not only they can fly, but they also can perch on a tree brunch (there was another female duck sitting on top of a birdhouse, but I didn't get my camera out fast enough):

In less than an hour I see a blue heron join the party:

On Sunday I placed a bunch of clues from the Easter Bunny all over the house. Kids had a blast following them to get to the final prize.
Here are all the collected clues, gathered together:

Jon loves his new Star Wars - Clone Wars helmet. It stayed on most of the day.

After lunch I took Larissa out for hot Chai Tea latte. We chose Pete's Coffee & Tea house. It was great!

Then we decided that we didn't care if it is raining and all the kids should go to a playground. At first Jon didn't want to come out of the car, but once he did, he had so much fun:

Once we got thoroughly wet with rain, we went back home for a cup of hot chocolate.

Sping Break 2010

2010-03-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

So, it's official. Spring 2010 is here!

On Friday Jon, Larissa and I had lunch with Dad. We chose Japanese. Tim ordered a dish with tofu, and shared it with Jon. Jon really liked it. It's so nice that he is too young to realize that eating tofu is probably not "cool"!
To compensate for a healthy lunch, on the way back home, we stopped at the bakery store and bought some doughnuts. As you probably guessed, Jon had a sugar powdered one.

Saturday was a busy day. I started my morning with a long run, then loaded a couple of mountain bikes into my truck and took Larissa to a Tour De Cure training ride at the Hagg Lake park. The weather turned out just perfect. I little chilly, but sunny and peaceful. My only regret is that I forgot my camera and missed out on some beautiful shots. We opted to do "out and back" ride rather than a full 12.5 mile circle, which ended up being about 7.3 miles. Not bad for Larissa's first ride!
Larissa only sustained a couple of minor injuries during the ride, so it was a good one.

Sunday turned back into a typical Portland gloomy Spring day. Not much desire to play outside, that's for sure. Instead, we went to the library, where Gabe and I read Jon some books, while Larissa was choosing her literature.

Right outside the library is a nice park with lots of ducks and geese. We brought some bread to feed them.

At first it was pretty exciting, then the birds got loud and demanding. Jon didn't like that too much and quickly run away.

March 20th weekend

2010-03-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

On Friday night we went to the Insomnia Cafe for the Java Rock night. There weren't any scheduled performers and a young man did a little impromptu performance. He was Ok, but I wish he didn't try doing high notes. Up to that point I leked him, but after that all I could think was "Tiny Tim..."

Kids got hot chocolattes and "big kids" got more sophisticated drinks. Right away, Jon spilled his drink. Goof boy!

Kids found a bunch of board games, mostly with some missing peices, but enjoyed them anyway.

We had pretty good time and looking forward to another fun night.

Saturday marked a beginning of a Spring Break 2010, for all the kids. Tim and I are splitting the time off from work, so that kids would be supervised at home the entire week.

What a better way to start a fun weekend than do a little dreass up game. Jon and Larissa wore mom's clothes & shoes and claimed to me "Mom". Tim wore Larissa's stuff and claimed to be her.

Rest of the weekend went by too fast. Couple of trips to the Gem Fair, making some bracelets, watching TV.

Happy St Patrick's Day 2010!

2010-03-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

Made Gabe a necktie last night. He looks so official. A little sleepy this morning, but ready to face the day!

Lacrosse is on!

2010-03-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

First day went pretty well. Gabe has two kids he knows from school on his team and I met a couple of parents on the sideline.

March 13th weekend

2010-03-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

I can tell that school year is near its end. We have more and more school shows / activities to attend.

On Wednesday Larissa's school had a 2nd & 3rd grade performance. We got to hear a few songs, some accompanied by a guitar.

Larissa was very worried that she wasn't "dressy enough"... I think she did just fine!

On Friday I took a day off from work and first, had breakfast with Jon at IHOP, before dropping him off at daycare.

Then, I went to the Winningstad Theatre to see "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" play with Larissa's class. Most kids behaved very well, but I think I got the best set. None of MY kids were trying to be loud or annoying.

We had a blast!

Friday night Gabe and went to volunteer at my a LAN Party at work. We helped checking players in. Registration table was located at the front lobby, so we didn't get to see too much action, but we did a few trips into the play area and got to see a lot of very interesting systems. Some had lights, some had cool graphics and some even had a fish tank with live fish in it!

On Saturday, after our swimming classes, we took Miranda to the MAX station so that she could go hang out with her friends, then Larissa, Gabe and I went to a Rock and Gem Fair. We had lots of fun bidding on rocks and ended up bringing home a rock pile.

Sunday was the day to adjust to new time change. We spent most of the day shopping.
First at Target, where girls spend a good hour or so in a makeup aisle.

Then at ROSS. Larissa insisted that I need to buy a red bag on wheels that she brought to me, and I kept saying that it was too big for what I needed the bag for, then... I realized that I wasn't seeing Jon anymore! As soon as I got ready to panic, I heard a laughter... coming out of the red bag...

I now know that I "could" take Jon as a carryon!

A few minutes later we found a perfect helmet for Jon, for a fraction of a price compared to Target. Jon put it on and didn't want to take it off. Not even for getting it scanned at the cash register! I am thinking it's a sign that he WILL wear it while playing.

To finish the weekend, Jon and I did some yard work and took a walk around the block.

Gabe's concert!

2010-03-10T10:19:00.000-08:00

On Monday we went to a rehearsal for Gabe's School Band at the Liberty HS gym. All the Hillsboro Elementary schools and one Middle school were in the group. I t was so impressive to see 72 kids (the largest performance group they ever had) get together and create music. Ok, so they could really use some practice, but for 10-14 year olds, not too bad!

Jon was very patient, watching a "very scary movie" called "Gremlins", and actually jumped a couple of times out of scare and grabbed my hand... He has watched this movie a few times already, but is still surprised by the scary parts?..

Tuesday! Big night! The concert! Everyone is excited!

First was a performance by all Elementary schools, followed by two bands from a Poynter Middle school, then a performance by the Liberty HS band.

Everything went very well, kids looked great, what a great night!

March 6th weelend

2010-03-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

Great weekend, filled with lots of sunshine!

On Friday night we attended a Bingo night at kids' school. For $5 we got 6 bingo cards, and for ~$12 more we got a variety of foods and drinks. We had quite a few exciting moments when we needed "only one more" number to win the prize, but time after time someone got their number first.

Finally, out of blue, Larissa yells "Bingo!". At first I thought she was mistaken, but she was correct. Her prize was two boxes of candy and two movies, "Karate Kid" & "Free Willy". Oh, boy... I know what we are going to watch when we get home.

When we got home, the night was still young, so I took Miranda and her friend to a local coffee shop, where twice a month they have a "teen night" with local teen musicians performing.

On Saturday was a typical "run out the door just in time for swimming class" morning, then I had a volunteer commitment from noon to 4pm, which happened to be the same time Miranda had a choir practice, so that worked out pretty well for a carpooling.

Afterwards, Miranda's friend came over for a sleepover. Oh, joy, TWO teenage girls in the house! LOL.

On Sunday I took Jon and Larissa out for doughnuts. We chose Krispy Kreme, because they are much closer to our house.

Nothing beats really fresh doughnuts!

February 27th weekend

2010-03-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

We are getting all set with signing up Jon for Kindergarten for next school year. One thing that was missing is his health/immunization form, so I made an appointment for both boys to see their pediatrician on Friday. Jon was very concerned that he will be getting a shot, but I couldn't lie. Instead, I told him that he will get a $1 if he "behaves himself".

Gabe ended up getting two shots and Jon got FOUR! Poor child was trying so hard to keep his tears from pouring out. Nurse suggested he sings his A-B-C's to get through.

This is when I wish I had a video camera rolling... Jon was trying his hardest to get through all the letters in order, while taking breaths for sobbing. He did very well.

On Saturday I volunteered at a work's Community Garden build. At the last minute I decided to take Miranda along. She didn't have any plans

Ground was extremely muddy and everything was a little disorganized, but we beat the rain and got a big meal served by Rio's Ribs.

I don't know about Miranda, but I am still sore two days later. Digging post holes got to be one of the hardest jobs...

On Sunday we were going to go a few places, but still feeling tired after all the digging, we shortened our travel distance to within a couple of miles from home.

We stopped at the Shute park and found out that all the "big kids" swings are taken off...

We also saw some damage to the swing poles that look too much like a bullet hole. Not cool, whatever it is...

It turned out to be a pretty nice partly sunny day after all the rainy predictions. Kids sure enjoyed playing outside.

EGG-speriment

2010-02-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

Jonathan asked if we could put an egg into vinegar, because they did something similar at school and is was fun...

We kept an egg in a glass jar for a few days and when we took it out on Sunday it felt like a little rubber ball.

I let kids play with it outside, because I didn't want to take a chance...

Wouldn't you know it, when we were done, Jon was carrying it back into the kitchen and he dropped it!

Oh, well, it was still fun!

Diabetes Expo 2010 weekend

2010-02-22T13:17:00.000-08:00

Another great weekend. Incredible weather! Sunny and warm. If I didn't know better, I would assume it's Spring time. Although, it's all about to change, back to "normal" Oregon weather...

This Saturday Larissa and I attended 2010 ADA Diabetes Expo. Our third time attendance in OR and I have to say, it's not much different from the last two. Many, many people looking for samples, great misunderstanding by most vendors of the difference between Type 1 & Type 2, lines and crowds...

I was mostly there to attend Jim Hansen Memorial Symposium. We had the same speaker as last year, who (per his own admission) used the same PowerPoint presentation as last year... so it also wasn't much different from last year.
We stopped by the Gales Creek Camp table and then by the ADA's Tour de Cure table, where Larissa scored a really cool biking "I ride with diabetes" jersey. She then got to play at the obstacle course and climb a rock wall.
On the way out we stopped by the Animas table where we got a free picture drawn by a very talented artist B.Pikus.

We then headed Downtown Portland in hopes of taking great picture, only to realize that I didn't charge my camera battery and after only a handful of pictures, it gave out...
If that wasn't bad enough, my lens filter fell off my camera and shattered.

What a day!

The rest of the family enjoyed a sunny great day and Jon watched another set of Star Wars movies.

Family Math Night

2010-02-19T14:37:00.000-08:00

Kids had a Family Night event at the Eastwood Elementary school, and surprisingly, everyone was interested in attending. May be it was the free pizza? None the less, we had fun.

Larissa had a piano session, so she joined us late.

Kids did some challenges like: measuring their arm span with a use of a string and then lining it up to see if it is the same length as their height; addidnd the sum of their name (where each letter had a different numerical value); playing math bingo; and then estimating a number of objects in a jar.

Lots of fun!

Happy Valentine's Day 2010!

2010-02-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

This year's Valentines Day fell on a Sunday, a day before President's Day, so we had a three day weekend to celebrate both.

Weekend started off gray and cool, but sun came out by Sunday, just in time for Valentine's Day.
On Valentine's Day Tim and I had a quiet lunch at Panera's Bread, just us, no kids.

Later in a day we got our ride-on truck out, washed it and kids drove it around the block for the rest of an afternoon. Jon is not quiet ready to drive it by himself, and Larissa is just a little too big to drive it, but it didn't stop those two.

We noticed that our backyard birds are back. I tried getting closer to take a good picture, but apparently they have a pretty good eye sight and they quickly left the premises.

We didn't go any place exciting over the weekend, just hung around the house, catching up on the projects, etc.

Larissa and I stopped by the Salvation Army store (since there was a 50% off sale) and I got a few interesting items. Among those a coffee mug from Enron! Incredibly, it is 13 years old and other than a small chip, looks like it was never even used.

It reads: "Commemorating the Historic Merger of Portland General and Enron - 1997 - "

I would have a picture of Gabe too, but he didn't come outside to play :-(

Superbowl Sunday

2010-02-08T11:52:00.001-08:00

We are back into another swimming session. As kids are getting better at it, they enjoy it a lot more too.

A good way to start off your weekend too.

On Saturday night we went to a Surprise 30th Anniversary for our dear friends Mary & Mark. While waiting for the guests of honor we tried out an accordion.

This was a well planned surprise. Mary & Mark had no idea this was going to happen and were quite shocked to see us all at her daughter's house.

Cari made a wonderful replica (out of clay) of the happy couple!

Happy Birthday, Kseniya!

2010-02-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

Another birthday caught up to me. I do not feel as old as I am, and even thinking about the number scares me...

Jon was very excited to find out it's my birthday and the very first thing he asked was "how many number years are you now?"

I told him 102. That made him laugh, but only because it reminded him of a silly song, not because he knew I was kidding... After all, he is the one who listed my age as 800 on a school project page.

I believe this was the best birthday yet! First thing in the morning I got a Nintendo DSi from Tim, hugs from the kids. Left work a little earlier, got the kids and we went to the mall for a LEGO build night. Made a groundhog creation, then on the way home stopped by Trader Joe's and loaded on dinner goodies and flowers.

My Facebook page was riddled with Best Wishes from my friends!

For desert we decided against a cake and had pre-made lemon bar bites. Really good!

Last weekend of January

2010-02-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend I was determined to finish some of my long postponed projects.

I spent all Saturday and a part of Sunday pulling together pictures and information on the family events for the past two years, in an attempt to capture it all in a digital scrapbook. I completed 22 out of 24 months!! Another weekend and I will be done with it. Having this Blog page was a HUGE aid. I was able to capture important events in a correct time frame. That's just incredible

On Saturday night we all made individual pizzas. Some came out square, some circular, and some even in a triangle shape, but all were very delicious!

I think I got my family totally hooked on jalapenos! We go through jars of it now...

On Sunday we went to the Mall. Miranda and Larissa went around a few stores, Jon and I had some coffee (for Mom) with doughnuts.

We also stopped by the Apple store and Jon really liked their music selection. He was so fast with figuring things out, next thing I know, he is on a PC playing LEGO Batman...