Nutcracker

Mali and her friend Zoë finally had their Nutcracker performance, postponed previously because of snow. Their class made up the party-goers in the opening scene. Mali was actually the first person to walk onstage. More photos here.
Here they are, after their performance:

Here they watch in amazement as the toys start to move.

Swimming, Skiing, Snowboarding

The District Swim meet (5 high schools) was Friday and Saturday. Andrew swam great - he got his best times ever and took 11th and 12th in the Backstroke and Butterfly. He gets to keep practicing because he's an alternate on the relays that made it to the state final next weekend.
Mali and I missed his meet on Saturday to go skiing/snowboarding with Paul and Zoë. The weather was great - the snow started out hard and crunchy, but it softened up nicely as the day went on. It was a little windy at the top of the mountain, but the view was great. Mali is snowboarding amazingly well for someone who's only been twice. She's a natural! Here's a not-so-great cell-phone photo of Mali and Zoë on the mountain:

Snow gone. Susy sick.

Susy went to work today, where she feels miserable. She was sick all weekend, including her Friday off. She wanted to go in today to pick up her new laptop - otherwise she had to wait another month. I am finally mostly better - I'm able to take a deep breath without coughing up my lungs. But coughing still hurts.
Mali has soccer practice tonight - it's been raining off and on but it's been in the 40's all day. Andrew and Rian walked halfway home from swimming practice before I picked them up.
Yesterday I picked up Paul, Nancy, Zoë, and a sunburned Hannah from the MAX - the van and I were the last leg of their trip home from their 10-day Cancun vacation. Mali went over to hang out with Zoë most of the afternoon. They brought me back a bottle of D'Aristi Xtabentun, a honey and anise rum-based liquor supposedly based on a Mayan spirit made from the Xtabentun flower on the Yucatan peninsula. I opened it and we tasted it at their house when I dropped Mali off - very delicious.

Impromptu Poker on MLK Eve.

Paul called for a game night, and we ended up with a big Texas Hold'em poker game at our house last night. Players were: Andrew, Mali, Pablo, Paul, Nancy, Zoë, and later Alana sat in for Nancy when she took Hannah home. Susy took a shower and bonded with her book, since she had to work early this morning. Matias couldn't play since he's been ignoring his homework and has band practice for nine hours today.
Kids are home in honor of MLK. Mali has another birthday party to go to at noon, and Andrew has swim practice at 2:30. I am working away - except for right this second as I'm about to drive Mali to her party.

Dog Birthday!

December 27th: We had a bithday party for Moose and Max, who turned one year old. No cake, though Alana brought over all the leftover desserts from her Boxing Day party, along with Maiara, Samira, Ryan, and Max. Nancy made a salad and brought the dog's honored mother, Tinkerbelle, along with Paul and the kids. Pablo was healthy enough to come over too, along with Rocio and Matias. And of course my newest daughter Rian was also here for the festivities.
The people and dogs all had a great time. Alana brought presents for the dogs, and the kids helped play with them. Susy and I contributed teriyaki pork, garlic green beans, and brown rice to the dinner. Kids took over the kitchen and adults captured the dining room, except poor Ryan who got stuck in the kitchen with the kids.

Tinkerbelle sadly did not get to go home with her family, who were leaving in the morning for a long vacation in Arizona. We are watching Tink for the next nine days. So far it's been a breeze - she's pretty mellow, yet good at entertaining Moose. She tried to trick us into carrying her up the stairs, but we didn't fall for it. She makes it up and down fine, but only after it's obvious that she's not going to get magically transported upstairs, and that no one is coming back down.

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.

New Trimester -AND- Storm cancels swim meet

I drove Andrew and Eric to school early this morning after we bought bananas for the pre-meet, carb-loading breakfast. He called soon after to say tonight's meet is canceled: Forest Grove doesn't have school today because of the storm.

The new trimester starts today! Mali gets to start Art, and Andrew is done with Chemistry and Japanese for awhile. Yesterday they were out of school to give the teachers a chance to pull the trimester grades together. (Oregon is a teacher-friendly state, for the most part.)

Andrew complained about yesterday's day off not being a day off. He woke up after 11:00 and the next thing he knew we were in the car to meet Susy for allergy shots and lunch. We went for shots at noon since Andrew had swimming practice later in the afternoon (coaches don't get days off.) It took Andrew and I a long time to get to the hospital for the shots. Here's why. I exited the highway there, after driving through the edge of the massive puddle in the photo, which was still a couple of feet deep. if I'd seen the photo I would have known to just re-enter the highway, but instead we took a long detour. Getting home wasn't much better because we got stuck behind a fire truck removing a fallen tree from Greenway Ave. I dropped Andrew off at Rian's and they got to hang out a very short time before I picked them and Maddie up for swim practice. Afterwards Andrew had time for a shower and then was off to the boy's swim team party, where they watched 300 and ate pizza.

Mali was at Zoë's all morning making a gingerbread house out of graham crackers and anything else they could find. She says it came out really nice, and wants to save it until after Christmas. She had lunch there and then came home to change and go ice-skating with Rachel. She loves ice-skating, and must be getting better - she was happy she only fell twice.

Andrew got home from the party in time for us to watch Veronica Mars. I limited us to one episode so the kids could get to bed before 10:00. Andrew was very unhappy about that, but was in bed asleep before I was done saying goodnight to Mali.

Storm and Symphony

Wind has been shaking the house and tossing rain against the windows since early yesterday. Poor Moose sits by the sliding door like he wants to go out, until we open it. He's been outside twice for about two minutes each. Mali slept at the opposite end of Andrew's bed last night (their idea) to hide from any falling trees in the backyard. They moved Moose's bed in there for the night too.

We ditched the kids Saturday night for Robert and Jennifer's going-away dinner at Alana's, with all the usual suspects and also Annette's friend Jason. We ditched them again last night (their choice) for a trip downtown to hear the Oregon Symphony play Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Zoë, Hannah, and Matias all came along, along with their parents and Alana and NancyD.

Rian had some reason for going to the ceramic place down the hill and invited Mali and convinced Andrew to also come and paint stuff. Susy picked them up and dropped Mali off at Zoë's for the afternoon - they haven't done much together lately. I'm driving Mali back to Zoë's this morning, but she's only getting a ride because of the wind and rain.
Rian came over for the afternoon yesterday, and we all let Andrew convince us to play a game of Euchre. Susy and I won, of course.

Lazy Sunday

We mostly cleaned the garage - actually making good progress. Then we spent the evening at the pool, after Kyle called to ask Andrew to go. We picked up Rian and Zoë on the way. It was fun, crowded with people we knew, and the weather was perfect. It closes after next weekend. Sad.
Here's a photo of Andrew trying to convince his mom he's too tired to clean the garage. He seemed to recover nicely once we got to the pool.

Mali's Return!

Mali is home from horse camp! Everyone got an award - Mali got the Cheerfulness award.
Here's a couple of pictures by Susy. I missed it (again!).

Mali at Horse Camp

Nancy and I drove to Silverton this morning to drop Mali and Zoë off at CanyonView Horse Camp. They're excited.

Pool time - and more Ratatouille

Saturday night Andrew went to the Simpsons movie with his friends Rian and Calee. They liked it, but there was no shock or awe. The rest of us watched Practical Magic at home with Pablo. It was good, but a little slow, as it now seems all pre-2000 movies are.
Sunday, Rian came over and we went to the pool for a couple of hours. Afterwards I made a batch of Ratatouille to celebrate Paul and Zoë's triumphant return from San Diego and Tijuana. Here's a picture of Hannah, doing what she does.

Deschutes River Rafting

Maupin, Oregon -
Twelve of us hit the river yesterday for six hours of fun battling with the elements. My shoulders are sore from paddling a kayak the whole time. The only injuries were some minor sunburn spots - the girls - Mali, Zoë, Hannah, Natalie, and Lilly all seemed to get a little burned just under their eyes. They rode high and mostly dry - except for the squirtguns - on the large rafts, manned by Doug and Dave. Paul and I were on the kayak all day, except Andrew took Paul's place for awhile after I pulled him into the river off of the raft he was on. Paul wanted a break so climbed on their raft, and Andrew was so busy squirting him that I easily pulled him off.
We left at 7:00, and didn't get home until 9:00. Susy and Erin both stayed home for a day of peace.

Busy Weekend!

Crazy, busy weekend: Talent show, dance rehearsal, grandparents arrival, fence repair, crazy dinner, dance recital, bathroom remodel, Frisbee golf, dinner, and hot tub!

Friday was the last day of school, and Mali's talent show. She did a fun, short dance with Lauren and Rachel. I walked up to see it with Nancy, Zoë, and Hannah. After school Mali and Rachel went to Lauren's for dinner, then Mali had the dress rehearsal for her dance recital, then returned to Lauren's for a sleepover. We couldn't find her leotard for the rehearsal, so she faked it and Saturday Susy took her to get a new one after we tore the house apart and couldn't find it. It still hasn't turned up.
Saturday morning I sealed the grout on the new tile in the guest bathroom just in time for our guests. I quickly put Grandpa to work taking out the tree in the backyard and fixing the fence. We had a little help from the neighbors.
Then we picked up Zoë, went downtown to drop them off at the Newmark Theater, and went to dinner at Oliver Twist's across the street. Our food finally came about the time the show was starting, but we only missed half of the introductory filmstrip about the history of the Billings Dance Academy. And we got our food for free - if you don't count all the anxiety it induced.
Mali and Zoë did great at the dance - Mali seemed to be front and center for most of the routine. We also got to see Lilly, and Brenna seemed to be in half of the 30 routines.
Sunday was very busy, as I had Grandpa instruct me (while doing most of it!) how to install the wainscoting/beadboard in the downstairs bathroom, along with the sink and new toilet. Such a great guy I am to put him to work on Father's Day! He was great, but I tired him out. I tired me out too.
After they left for their long drive home I cleaned up a little and we all went to McMenamin's Grand Lodge in Forest Grove for Frisbee golf and to meet Paul&Family for dinner and to crash in the wonderful Japanese Soaking Pool there. The frisbee was great: Susy had Mali rolling on the ground over her first few frustrated frisbee throws. We were all amazed at Andrew as he managed to perfectly land his frisbee very gently at the very top of a very tall tree. He was a little sad after breaking his sunglasses tossing them down while climbing, but he recovered.

More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondad/
Susy talks Andrew into smiling:


Andrew in the Japanese Soaking Pool:

Dance Recital at Newmark Theater, Downtown Portland:

Nancy Ryles Talent Show, the last day of school:

Rocio's Birthday

Pablo took the usual suspects to Benihana's to celebrate Rocio's birthday. Then we came home and ate Alana's delicious chocolate-Bailey's cake with Pablo's homemade vanilla ice cream!
Here's the kids at Benihana's from my cellphone:

And here's Zoë and Mali back home:

Rocio after blowing out candles:

Dance Class Photos Today

Austin was over after school, and stayed for burgers and Susy's gelatin-free strawberry pie. Afterwards, Mali left for dance class and we played Pictionary - Susy won both games with different partners each time.
The clock was wrong, so I was a few minutes late picking the dancers up. I found them outside, rolling down the grassy hill and laughing their heads off.
I took a quick photo before dance with Mali in her recital outfit - they had class pictures today.

Mali's Busy Day - soccer tryouts and dance

Mali had a busy evening yesterday. First was soccer tryouts, where she did much better than Saturday morning, but was much more nervous beforehand. Andrew had to talk her down. He did a great job, and Mali really looked like she belonged there. She usually does, she just lets tryouts make her nervous.
After soccer ended at 7:05 we went almost straight to her dance class, swerving only slightly to pick up Zoë After that Paul took her and Zoë to Cold Stone for ice cream - Zoë's reward for trying Ketchup Pizza.

Changing of the Dishwasher

It is a new month, so we've changed our dishwasher. The new one is named Andrew. Mali got paid out a $3 bonus for her quality work over the last half month when it all began. Andrew seems determined to expand on that, and is asking questions and learning what it will take to go the extra dish and up the bonus into the stratosphere, base salary being not much more than dinner and the occasional Starbucks.

Monday night was quiet. Moose and I walked Mali to Rachel's house, so now she can go there on her own. After a scrounged-up dinner, Susy and I walked to the pet store to get Moose a much-needed dog toenail clipper. A good walk, but it quickly cooled down and the wind picked up. The only loud part of the evening for me was the post-walk retrieval of Mali, Zoë, Natalie, and Lilly from their dance class.

Sunday night was not quiet, but it was also fun. Andrew invited Austin over for the afternoon, and they entertained Mali and Moose most of it. She stayed for dinner and then we played a very fun game of Pictionary, boys v girls. Girls won by an inch, as Andrew correctly guessed Alps for Pyrenees just after Mali said, "Time."
("European Mountain Range." "Yes, and...")
Previously, in Dad/Andrew Pictionary:
"Arabian building. Muslim building. Muslim religious building. Muslim church. Muslim church. Muslim church. Muslim church building."
"Yes. The word is: Mosque."

Wednesday night - Austin

I meant to post this earlier (like Wednesday night.) Andrew had Austin over Wednesday, and we picked up subs for dinner. She played the part of Mali, who was at Awanas with Zoë. I've never seen Andrew laugh so hard as he did at dinner. He could barely breath.

Bike ride, etc.

Mali hung out with Zoë all day, and I did get a bike ride in - 20 miles with Pablo, Paul, and Dave. Here's our route: Tile Flat Rd. to Farmington to Hillsboro Hwy to Scholls Ferry to home.

Afterwards we had an incredible roast beef at Paul's (I brought potatos), and Pablo brought homemade vanilla ice cream. Andrew and Susy stayed home, since Susy had already eaten at Pazzo's in Portland with Alana and Debrah. She and Andrew watched Casino Royale, which I saw with David a couple weeks ago.