Soccer, And Divorce/Farewell Party

Mali's game Saturday was a chilly disaster. The other team was really good. I think they won the state tournament. Mali's team tried to hold on, but they were overmatched all the way, and lost 5 - 0.

Saturday night was the big event: Alana's celebration for divorcing her mean and nasty and now very EX-husband, and the farewell party for Maiara and Samira, who are on they're way home to Brazil now. Around 50 people showed up to the Murray Hill rec center to congratulate Alana, wish the girls well, eat great Mexican food provided by Cookie, drink, dance, and be merry. We will miss Maiara and Samira very much. We will not miss crazy ex-husband one bit.

Maiara's Birthday!

I am still sick, but getting better. Drugs help. Now Susy is also sick. At least she got to sleep most of today since it was her Friday off.
Andrew's swim meet last night was his best yet. He got his best times and took second place in the backstroke and third in the butterfly. I got to go since it was at Aloha H.S. and Mali's first soccer practice of the year was also there. Chauffeuring made easy, for a change.

Today is Maiara's birthday! Susy made a chocolate cherry cake and we're bringing it over in a few minutes. We won't be staying long, since I have a strong desire to fall into my bed. Andrew went to a feast at Southridge, and just called to tell me he's going to the basketball game with Tiana and Eric. The feast was to follow a fast several classes did to raise money for Uganda, but athletes were supposed to raise money some other way. Andrew did this by exchanging the fasting bit with a promise to eat extra food next week. Some of the swimmers fasted, and their coach yelled at them today. Duh. Most of the freshman swimmers look like scarecrows.
Here's Maiara with the cake and the only candle Alana could find:

Home from Sunriver

Very stormy here now, and it was windy all the way home from Sunriver, though Santiam Pass was dry coming home. Mali and I had a great time with Alana, Maiara, and Samira. We overslept Wednesday, so instead of driving up to Mt. Bachelor we went into Sunriver and poked around skating, shopping, and eating, then came home and watched movies and played cards.
Yesterday we got up early and Mali and Samira got their first snowboarding experience! Mali was a monster and loved it. Samira did well, Maiara was validated as a non-beginner, and Alana's new boots worked out fine. The crowds were small and short-lived, and the snow was nice, with about 4 inches falling on us in the afternoon.
Here's the girls at the skating rink in Sunriver. More photos at Flickr, as always.

Sunriver Bound!

Mali is sick, but drugged and functioning. She and I are heading to Sunriver today with Alana and her Brazilian girls Maiara and Samira. And we're bringing Tinkerbelle, but not Moose. Andrew will be in charge of Moose for a few days. We plan to be home Friday.
If Mali is healthy enough tomorrow, she will take a snowboarding lesson with Maiara and Samira.

Alana feeds us again

We told Andrew and Rian we'd go out for dinner and a movie, but it was easier, cheaper, and quicker to go to Alana's for her dinner leftovers: Pork roast and gravy with potatoes and vegetables. Then we all (except Maiara) went to see The Golden Compass, Alana for the second time. It was great - pretty close to the book and very well done. Andrew noted that it ended slightly earlier than the book, probably so it could end on a high note. The books are pretty dark.
Mali was happily sucking away on Rian's soda - not knowing it was coke. So she was caffeinated and giggly all the way home, and started cleaning her room at 10:30. Maybe caffeine will be good for her, but I'd still prefer she wait before joining the mass of caffeine addicts blanketing the globe.

Boxing Day

Alana's traditional Boxing Day party was a great time! About 35 people were there, and we knew most of them. Mali had fun with Rachel and Zoë, and Hannah and Rachel's sister Julia discovered each other. Moose had fun with Max, though they were shuffled outside for much of the party. Tinkerbelle did not come for the party this year. Last year she came because she was pregnant with Moose and Max and several other puppies, ready to pop, and required monitoring. She popped the next day, which made for exciting times.
Andrew brought Rian, and Matias disappeared with NancyD's twins to play pool downstairs. Sadly, Pablo stayed home sick. Alana's friend Cookie made a fantastic chocolate ameretto cake, and NancyD brought delicious appetizers. Alana made her standard salmon, which everyone loves (except the fish-haters.)
Paul went second in the gift exchange and won himself thong underwear, picked out by Maiara and Alicia. No one traded with him. Nancy won a Candle-Topper - for retopping candles, of course. Susy was pleased with her vibrating neck pillow, NancyD with her paperwhites, and I came home with a can of poppycock.

Samira's birthday!

Mali and Moose walked over to Alana's yesterday afternoon, to help with her Christmas decorations. Well, Moose romped around with Max, while Mali decorated one of Alana's two trees. They were there all afternoon. Alana invited us over for dinner and birthday cake for Samira, who turned 23 on Saturday. I forgot my camera so didn't annoy anyone, though since Samira and Maiara are both beautiful enough to be models maybe they won't be annoyed by incessant picture taking.
Rocio and Matias also came over for cake. Matias brought along his Rubik's Cube, which he has just figured out how to solve. He demonstrated and explained it to all of us. Mali took pride in scrambling it up for him so he could re-solve it. Andrew thought a Rubick's Cube would be nice to find in his stocking.

We have tree.

Mali requested a tree this year. We have tried placating her in the past with several of the small, two-foot high, pre-decorated, artificial trees, but apparently that has not done the trick. We stopped getting Christmas trees after we had spider infestations three years in a row. Nothing like sitting down on the floor Christmas morning to discover those tiny black specks on the carpet are moving, and are really tiny baby spiders. Now that we have hardwood floors in the living room I thought it would be easier to monitor the spider situation. Or at least clean up afterwards.
The first words out of Mali's mouth this morning were, "Where are the Christmas lights?" We didn't decorate last night because we were across the street at a holiday party to meet the new neighbors.

Our new next-door neighbors are great. Jeff and Allison, and their kids: Andrew(4) and Holly-rhymes-with-Mali(1), the same age our kids were when we moved in. Other similarities: Holly was the happiest baby I've seen since Mali, just thrilled to be crawling her way into every cabinet and drawer she could get her hands on. She is late to walking, like Mali, whereas her brother was an early walker/runner like Andrew.
The other relatively new neighbors have a tiny kid too, but Molly stayed home with her dad.

More News: I finally got to see Maiara and meet Samira! Alana brought them over on the way to the Saturday Market downtown. Maiara is the skinniest girl I've ever seen. She looked like a model, which cannot possibly be healthy, but is very striking. Samira is her older sister - 23 and also beautiful.

Alana also rescued us by bringing over a box of appetizers for us to take over to the party. Mali really didn't want to go, because she knew she and Kelsey were going to be stuck watching the four mobile little kids, Lucy, Alex, Abby, and Andrew - only Holly was trapped in the kitchen with the adults. They did a great job, playing hide-and-seek, and of course Mali put on a show for them involving her and Kelsey in a sleeping bag moving around like a giant worm. I think she even had fun. We stayed after everyone left and talked with Dave and Gayle for awhile, finishing off the wine and eating too much of the artichoke dip that Karen brought.
We came home to find Andrew's roving party had been pared down to Rian and Tiana, Eric and Hailey had gone home. They were watching Pirates of the Caribbean 1. We crashed on the couches and watched the rest with them. They had started out at the nearby House of Good Fortune for lunch, and were all playing poker in our kitchen when we left for Dave and Gayle's house.

Maiara arrives!

I just dropped Moose off with Alana so he can play with Max all day, since I am heading up to Washington for work. Mali is excited to pick him up after school because Maiara will be there too! She arrives from Brazil at 11:00 today with her big sister. Susy and the kids have been invited over to dinner tonight to celebrate her arrival. Sadly, I will miss it. Instead I will be at my work group's holiday celebration tonight, drinking beer and playing darts.

Last night we had dinner at GoGo's to celebrate Andrew's straight A report card. Rian came along too, which made it that much more festive.

Andrew's track meet

Today we spent a lonnnnggg time at Andrew's track meet. He had two events, four hours apart. He placed 5th in the mile (so advances to regionals). He then placed third in the 400m to help his old dad relax.
Tomorrow is the 800m run. Hopefully he will make regionals in that too. Only one event tomorrow, so we'll actually to spend a few moments at home.

Tonight we went to Maiara's going away party - she is leaving for Brazil on Wednesday, and we are all really sad about that. Hopefully someday we can go visit her in Brazil.