Games and Fun

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?

Girl's Group

God has truely blessed me with wonderful friends, in particular, Christy (with Enoch), Charissa, Jennifer, and Annette (with Stuart born 9/5?). We have been getting together regularly for almost 14 years. They are godly women who love the Lord, their husbands and their children. We also strive to love others as the Lord. Jennifer lives in Idaho now and we were so delighted to have her with us when we met at Annette's home on their farm in Salem at the end of August. What a wonderful time! There is too much to say about these women and our amazing friendships full of unconditional love and encouragement.

We walked through the beautiful flower garden, out to the lake and indoors for yummy treats and tea, and the most wonderful thing, fellowship. How I love these women, my sisters in the Lord.

La La

We were all doing our own little things around the house. Greg and I were in the living room when we looked at each other, both hearing a little voice singing in the kitchen. Olivia was working on a puzzle and searching for the words of a song she had heard. By the time Greg got in with the camera she was about done, but he coaxed a little more out of her. The first video she wasn't really noticing Greg, just getting silly. The second video he asked her to sing.

Saturday Togetherness

What a great day was Saturday. I had been putting off going to stores all week; not a good idea when your shopping on bike because you can only carry two bags (at least I can). I woke up a little after 6 AM and decided to go early to Winco. The sun was shining and beautiful, the ride was peaceful, the store had long lines, but I made it home in less than an hour.

We all got ready to go to Farmer's Market. We rode our bikes and parked them by the library. We stood listening to the music (the area agreed on to meet Dad and Eunice, Cash was there, too). We were there maybe 5 or 10 minutes and Dad came walking up; they had been standing a little ways away waiting for us; it is quite crowded at the Beaverton Farmer's Market, but that in no way diminished our fun. The clouds would hide the sun occationally and then it was quite chilly, but this is Oregon. We bought strawberries, salsa, radishes and beets, goat cheese and hummas, and Dad and Eunice bought pastries for all the children. Poor Cash missed out on those, but I guess he is still a little young. Dad explained some of the differences to me between folk and bluegrass as we listened some more of the music while the children ate.

We arrived back at home around 10AM and Greg and I almost immediately left to go to Trader Joe's. The sun was shining and the day was warming up making the ride extra pleasant and enjoyable. After eating some of the things we bought we had a lazy afternoon reading and napping, the kids played with toys in our tiny back... yard and spent some time reading themselves.


We watched a family movie while eating dinner. A thing I don't like to do because it makes such a mess in the living room; the children love it, of course, and it was a warm ending to a great family day.

Busy, But Fun

I posted a little bit about the busy times we are having on my rambling blog, but here are some pictures and details of a few events.

We changed our schedule a little last week and went to Grandma's first on Wednesday. The children stayed with her while I went to my cycle class at the YMCA. When I got back we had lunch and then went to the library on our way home. It worked surprisingly well. The fountain at the library was on and I let the children get wet before our walk home. We have been having a warm spell (over/almost 90 for... 3 or 4 days).

I decided that for some quality school work we could go to the fountain again on Thursday after I got back from getting our milk. It was after lunch when we went and unlike the day before there we other people at the fountain, quite a few (though I didn't get many in the pictures). It was a little more difficult for the kids to play, but they still had a good time. Some of them played in the big grass area as well.

Greg has been working a lot of hours, which we are not complaining about, so it has taken us a couple of weeks to make it out to see the track races on Thursday and Friday evenings. They are held at Alpenrose Dairy, about 5 miles away. We took Henry and Solomon (only four can go as the van isn't working) because Louis and Otto had been there with Greg a few weeks ago when on a long bike ride. We don't know much about track racing, but have developed an interest to find out more.

Friday night we went to see Prince Caspian. We intended to all ride, but realized we would need to go to an evening showing (Greg works) and it would be dark on the ride home. Greg rode with only Henry and Louis; Otto, Solomon, Olivia and I walked to Grandma's where we met Greg's dad. Olivia stayed at Grandma's and watched a calmer movie and the rest of us got a ride with Greg's dad who saw the movie with us and gave us a ride home afterward. The movie was enjoyed by all.

The Beaverton Farmers Market has begun and while Greg was riding with Louis and Otto yesterday (check Greg's MTB blog) Henry, Solomon, Olivia and I walked over to check it out. It is located right next to the library and the fountain. I was amazed at the crowd. We walked through it all and I bought some great asparagus and lettuce. We bought some bagels for breakfast and listened to live music, Jenny Get Around (old time fiddle music). The kids were a little bored, but I had a great time.

Solomon's B-day

Today is Solomon's birthday so i (Greg) decided we'd go for a bike ride. We've had quite a bit of riding this weekend so it seemed like a good idea. He always wants to be in the lead so we were going back and forth on who was leading. First we headed up to some single track not far from where we live , for Solomons first time riding on dirt. He loved it! after fooling around there for a bit we headed through the neighborhoods to a park. Once there Louis ( the wearer of the back pack) got out the Nerf foot ball and the baseball and gloves , so we could play catch for a while. Then we headed home via the bike path.Only 7.5 miles but a fun ride none the less. Three day's in a row for Otto and I.

Fun day!

March 1st Trip to the Oregon Coast

Greg was talking about doing a video only blog the other day. After our adventure to the coast yesterday, he was talking about it more and ready to start it. I talked him into making this a video blog. I'm obviously having a hard time keeping up with it and the change will be fun. So here is video of our trip to the coast yesterday. There were few times when I realized Greg was recording us. He uses our camera so it looks like he is getting ready to take a picture. I have to confess when he opened the window to film outside, the rain was quickly soaking through my jeans and I was a little irritated. It's a shame I'm confessing it because I didn't know he was filming and glad that my expression and words did not betray my inner emotions too much. Another funny thing, when Greg is filming us walking up the bridge to look at the sea lions you can see the camera lens blowing in the wind. After the sea lions we went back to Seal Rock and went below to the beach that Greg, Otto and Solomon we overlooking. It is there we crossed the little stream on the rocks and saw some awesome tide pools. Greg took lots of great pictures, hopefully they will be on our Flicker site soon (see our Pictures link). We had a great day and as you see the weather changed frequently, always beautiful.