Otto and Olivia had a great time playing Tumbling Tower. Our table is just a folding table and
it rocks and sways whenever you touch it, but that didn't seem to bother them. We are fortunate to have many fun games. Advantageous to the children is several siblings available for play; they can usually find at least one person to play with when the desire arises. 
Olivia is wearing a ballerina leotard she got from her cousin. Last Monday, Olivia had her first ballet class. It was fabulous! The only bad part of the experience was my thinking it started 10 minutes later than it was actually scheduled. On top of thinking late, it took me longer to pull the trailer to the recreation center than I'd expected. Aside from being late Olivia had a great time and I was impressed with the teacher. It will be a fun class.
Olivia's ballet class is a result of our applying for financial assistance with the Tualatin Valley Recreation Centers. We don't like to apply for aide, no food stamps or state health care, even though we do qualify for such things. We would rather struggle than become dependant on such programs. (We have a large family and we choose for me to stay home rather than add to our income. Our ability to qualify does not reflect Greg's work ethic. He is always on time, never calls in sick, works hard consistantly and constantly). In this case, the children have never had the opportunity for some of these classes and paying for the public schools and all our own homeschooling books makes me feel better about taking advantage of the opportunity. Otto is taking Boys Gymnastics, Louis is taking Photography, and Henry a class in computer animation. Solomon will be taking a Playful Inventors Workshop and in November, Louis will try his hand at volleyball. Also, all the children will be taking swimming lessons at the Beaverton Swim Center which is closer to us than the library.
Needless to say our schedule has gotten a little more crowded. It is temporary however, and after two weeks I'm still feeling positive about the situation. Because we have to ride bikes to all the classes (they begin before Greg is home from work) it is good exercise for me and the children. Olivia has to ride, but soon we hope to get a trail-a-bike and she will be able to pedal a little to help get us over the hills. I quickly discovered that Beaverton is in a valley. We go to three recreation centers, one is north, one south and one east, all about the same distance and all uphill. The one we attend most has a hill in between so it is uphill both ways; for some reason the downhill part isn't as noticeable.
Perhaps this should have gone on my rambling page because it feels like that is what I'm doing. Too many blogs? Or too much rambling?
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