Moose, Day 1

Moose is in da hoouuuse! He had a little anxiety last night, looking for his brothers and his momma, but he's doing fine now. It helps he's had overwhelming attention from Mali, and they are both very taken with each other. Andrew had Maddie over so he didn't spend as much time getting to know him.

Long Weekend

Last night we all went to Paul&Nancy's to put a collar on Moose so someone else doesn't accidentally take him home. We are taking delivery on Wednesday.
Other news:
Saturday, Mali and I picked out a new bicycle for her - an early 11th birthday present. She's been riding her old one a lot, but it is ridiculously too small. We were spurred to shop by Andrew's excursion to Pizzicato with some 8th grade friends. Mali didn't understand why she couldn't tag along with him.
Movies: Mali, Andrew, and I went to see Bridge to Tarabithia Saturday. A very good movie, but nothing at all like I thought it would be. I thought it was some crazy fantasy movie, but it was waayyy too reality-based for my taste. I certainly wasn't comfortable with the 3rd act tragedy. Andrew had read the book, and hinted at it to Mali, so they weren't hit in the head with a sledgehammer like I was.
Yesterday I dropped Mali and Lilly off to see Norbit, and Andrew and I met Susy (she had to work) for lunch at GoGo's Mongolian Grill. Andrew spent the rest of the day over at Maddie's house.

Egyptian Art Night

Susy and I went to a Portland Art Museum member's event tonight. It was a great deal - for a small fee we got appetizers, dessert, and all the wine we could drink. There was live quasi-Middle Eastern music, and even a belly dancer! Then we got to wander the museum, so we took in the Egyptian show.

Puppy!

I returned from Washington after a rain-and-traffic-filled 5-hour drive. I got to meet Andrew's friend Mattie (Maddie?), who was still there visiting after an invitation to dinner. We drove her home (just down the hill) and continued over to Paul&Nancy's to see our new puppy.
It is official, we have selected Moose. He will move in with us probably next weekend. Here's a cell photo of him giving Andrew a sniff.

Mali's Valentine's Day Duck

Mali's class is having a contest for Valentine's Day mailboxes. This is her entry.

Here she gets a kiss on the nose.

I'm healthy!

Except for a little relapse last night, I am doing fine now. Still tired.
Mali got her birthday present a little early - we went and got her a cell phone today.
Andrew went out to lunch at the Chinese place with a bunch of his friends. He's not home yet, so not sure how that turned out.
Susy took Mali to Michaels to get supplies for her Valentine's Day dragon/swan mailbox that she is creating. Her class is having a contest. They dropped me off at the library, then afterwards we all went out for coffee/hot chocolate at a nice new coffee shop next to the library. While we were there they posed for a cell phone photo.

Whistler, now sick

I ditched my wonderful family for a weekend of skiing and poker at Whistler. It was great fun at Bob's place. Then Sunday we were trapped because of the landslide that closed the highway, so Paul, Jonathan and I hid out at the mansion John (and Brian, Vincent and Eric) rented with his families.
Paul and I made it home at 2:30 Monday morning. Monday was fine, but Tuesday I got sick - I think I have the same flu that Susy had earlier.

OregonMom sick

Susy has been sick since Friday. She took Monday off, but went in yesterday only to come home early to sleep for a couple of hours before dinner. I think she's okay today, finally.

OregonMom sick

Susy has been sick since Friday. She took Monday off, but went in yesterday only to come home early to sleep for a couple of hours before dinner. I think she's okay today, finally.

Literacy Night

Mali's friend called at a quarter to literacy night, to ask if Mali was going up to Nancy Ryles for it. I had forgotten, and so we cancelled our plans for steak and Chinese food and went with toaster-oven reheated pizza and a sandwich for Mali, and all three of us walked up to the school. Susy was due home at 8:00 from her work-trip to API in Issaquah.
We got there just in time to catch the Mayor reading the last page of Cat in the Hat, and then we got to hang out in Mali's classroom, reading her fractured fairy tale starring Christina Aguilera as Red of Little Red Riding Hood in the New York City fashion industry, or something. Then we climbed aboard the Awesome Adventure Airlines for an alliteration lesson. We also covered onomatopoeia, personification, and my favorite: hyperbole. Andrew and I wrote about our trip to Mexico ("The click, clack, and tap, tap, tap of Ping Pong balls kept us awake on our trip. We played Ping Pong day and night without stopping, on our magnificent, magical march to Mexico")

Then we went to the store for eggs and milk and bought tons of other stuff, and got home and unloaded just before Susy pulled in.

No school today, because it's Oregon. Mali just left for school anyway, but with a soccer ball, a tennis ball, and a tennis racket. And my cell phone. Meanwhile, Andrew is still sleeping.

Weekend without soccer

Andrew had no game this weekend and his practice tonight is canceled. Mali decided she'd rather practice soccer outside with her brother than go to another indoor practice, so that's what they did. She's an outdoor girl. We walked/biked (she biked) to Starbucks Sunday morning. She Really Needs a new bike, but she loves her old one.

Saturday night we went over to Paul and Nancy's for cheese fondue and to see the puppies. Susy is very thrilled with the two large (forSchnauzer) salt&pepper pups, Moose and Sandy (both male). They both like to sleep a lot. Paul and I played Scrabble while everyone else watched some Twin Towers movie that sounded awfully depressing.

Mother and child(ren) reunion

Susy is home from Florida, to everyone's great joy. There was quite a reunion scene at the airport.

Snow day(s)!!!

It snowed 4 inches Tuesday morning, surprising nearly everyone, though MOST schools were able to sensibly make the decision to close. Not Beaverton School District. They thought they'd stay open until kids got on buses that got stuck in ditches, and teachers slid their cars into other teacher's cars. I walked Mali up to the school to find out what was going on, and of course discovered chaos. Most of the teachers weren't there, NONE of the buses made it there, and the kids who were there were being herded into the music room to watch videos. Mali and I left and walked over to Alana's for some coffee, and I called Andrew to tell him not to get on the bus if actually made it to his stop. He found it there, stuck on the hill.
We had a great day of sledding and fun. All the usual suspects ended up at Alana's house for food and Scrabble while the kids spent more time going up and down the hill. I worked yesterday while the kids enjoyed more sledding. Today it looks like they'll be going in two hours late.
I have lots of great pictures stuck on my (old) camera. Here's a photo Nancy took of Zoë and Mali.

Grandma's surgery a success!

Susy called from Florida:
Irene's surgery is over and went well! Everyone is much relieved. She should be back home in a couple of days. Hooray!

Mali Makes Mocha Missing a Tooth

Here's a photo from this morning. Mali makes mocha, and I needed a shot of her missing tooth.

Mali's Very Small Bike

Mali needs a new bike. She loves this one though. She left it at Zoe's, so we walked down to get it. She walked it up the big hill, seen below.

Mali lost a tooth!

Mali lost a tooth! She called me up to the school for a replacement pair of pants after sliding in the mud on the playground (It's snowing and hailing lightly today) and she proudly showed me her missing tooth. I knew nothing of anything loose.

Puppies in da house!

We puppysat Sunday while Paul&Co went skiing. Andrew had Kyle over playing games all day and Mali played with Natalie (and of course the puppies) most of the day. We had the Puppy owners over for spaghetti after their ski trip, and Pablo and Rocio joined us for Scrabble. Then Kyle's entire family came over to see the puppies before Nancy took them back home. Click on the photos below to enlarge.

New Year's Eve

Here's some photos from the New Year's Eve party.

Puppy Disaster

Nancy called, JuJu did not make it through the night. This was the small female salt-and-pepper schnauzer that Mali and I had chosen. She was not even 3 days old.

Crokinole

Paul bought a very fun game over the internet called Crokinole. It is a physical game where you flick wooden disks on a wooden board. If you want to see what it looks like, check out the Crokinole World website.

Last night we discovered Nancy making a vat of split-pea soup, so we brought bread and wine and helped them eat it. We also brought the last of the leftover pumpkin lusch for dessert, and Hannah Really Loved it. Afterwards we invited Pablo over for Scrabble, and the girls watched Who Killed the Electric Car.

Puppies!

Tinkerbelle had her puppies yesterday! Seven little cuties, two girls. Mali was dieing to get over there and see them, but we waited until she was all done and things had calmed down. Here's a photo of one from Nancy:

Boxing Day party

Alana threw a huge Boxing Day party last night. Susy went over early to help set up, while lazy Darrin went with Pablo over to Paul's to play Scrabble.
Lots of great people at the party - all the usual suspects, and the new ones: Doug, Erin and Natalie, Mische (no David or Lilly), Pablo's friend Nancy, and more of Alana's neighbors and friends. Andrew and Matias brought Andrew's new game, Betrayal at House on the Hill, but Olivia and her gang harrassed them out of the downstairs, and instead they threw wrapping paper at their parents. Lots of laughing over the white elephant exchange - particularly the belly dancing DVD and the old, scary stuffed-cat toy.

It seems likely that Tinkerbelle may have had her puppies last night - she is ready to pop, and started panting strangely as they left the party. Mali is thrilled.

Merry Christmas!

Hooray, it's Christmas!
We've been visiting neighbors, and are heading to Pablo's for dinner now. Here's some photos from last night and this morning.
Mali and Amy get down for the camera:

Darrin gets to hold a snuggly Conner while he wakes up:

Conner tries out Mali's Rudolph nose:

Susy manages to get sleepy Cooper to sleep:

Andrew and Conner:

Grandpa and Conner:

All the kids at the party:

Amy, Andrew, and Mary:

And from this morning, Darrin's new teapot: (photo by Mali)

Merry Christmas Eve Day!!!

We are safely at the Washington Grandparent's house. Oregon Dad's Dad is preparing waffles for us, and at 1:00 the rest of the family will show up for the Christmas Eve's festivities.

Sick kid, sick dad.

Mali came into our room with a raging fever this morning. She felt a little off last night, but we expected her to get better, not worse. She slept all day and is feeling much better tonight. We put off our trip to Washington for a day. I'm sick now with a sore throat, but I'm going to bed now and hopefully will be fine for tomorrow's trip.

We have finished our Christmas shopping, the Christmas cards are out, and gifts are made for the neighbors (yummy chocolate cranberry pistachio bark). Now if we could all just be healthy by Christmas all will be perfect.

Christmas Vacation

Not too much happening here, this first week of Christmas vacation. Mali and Andrew have been working on their paintings for Susy, click the photo below to see another view. Andrew spent most of today at William's house, and Mali and I walked to the video store and got The Devil Wears Prada, which she has been very eager to see.
Yesterday the kids and I got some excercise up at the school, playing soccer with Matias and a friend. Then Andrew had an indoor game where the Poi Dogs easily beat an Aloha Rec league team 9-3. Andrew had a very good game: his first two minutes as a forward he scored two great goals, one a header!

Christmas Party

Doug and Erin threw a fantastic party at their house with co-hosts David and Mische. Guests included: Paul and Nancy, Alana, George and Mary-Fay, John and Kim? from Intel, Bill and ??? from Intel, Erin's brother and ???, and Nan and ???, and many others I don't quite remember. Lots of great wine and food and fun.

Storm Day

We were all amazed to discover school cancelled Friday. It was a beautiful day, except for the fallen-tree-closed roads and power outages scattered throughout town. I drove Mali up to school since she was heavily laden with gifts and gingerbread house materials. We were a little early, so I didn't consciously notice the lack of cars, and there were people in the parking lot, but after reading the "school closed" sign four times it slowly dawned on me that the school was closed. Mali and I walked up later to deliver the presents, and happily her teacher was there to receive it in person.

It finally did snow for five minutes, but after it hailed hard for ten, leaving a nice sheen of white pellets available for snowballs. William and Lilly were over, and everyone trooped out to play.

Choir at Starbucks

The Nancy Ryles choir sang at Starbucks last night. The photo below shows Mali chatting with her friends Dana and Rachel. Click it to see them singing.
Afterwards we all went to Pizzicato for dinner, and met up with Mali's new friend Julia and her family.

Zoë is Ruth

Mali and Andrew each had their first Indoor soccer experiences of the season this weekend - Mali's first ever. They both did great. I got to play with Mali's team, since they are just practicing. It was very fun, but I am Really out of shape. I played goalie for awhile at the end, so I could rest. Mali was very motivated to score against me, but she never got a good chance.

Mali and I raced home after soccer and showered, so we could all go to Paul and Nancy's church tonight to watch Zoë and Hannah in their Christmas program. It was a musical called "It's the truth, Ruth," and Zoë played Ruth. Hannah played a sheep, and also played her violin (in her sheep costume!) with other violinists before the show.
Afterwards we went for Chinese food with Pablo, Rocio, Matias, Nancy, Z0ë and Hannah.

Friday Night

Mali went to Lexi's Ice Skating show and was very impressed with Lexi's abilities. She came home and showed us some of the moves, and announced she wants to go to Sun River for three days and skate! The details were fuzzy - it's just something she wants to do.

She caught a ride to the show with Lilly, so Susy, Andrew, and I finally watched the DVDs Susy got last week: Highlander and Highlander II. What a disappointment! There was a good TV show, and books, and still more movies, but these two movies are horrible. The first one was watchable, though it's from 1986 and hasn't aged well. I certainly expected something more interesting after all the hoopla and the fact that it's still around - there's another movie coming out next year.

Friday, and everyone is healthy

I think everyone is healthy. Susy is still sleeping, as it's her every-other-Friday off today. Last night she and Mali went to a neighbor's house for a cookie exchange, along with 70 other people. They brought carmel-chocolate-pecan turtles, and returned with a large variety of goodies.

Health Report

Andrew is doing much better tonight. The medicine seems to have kicked in. He actually ate a piece of pizza for dinner.
Mali's friend Amanda is home from the hospital. It's her birthday today, so Mali and I went over there at 7:00 and met up with a few teammates for her birthday party.

The BIG news: Andrew has grown an inch in the last month!!!! It seems to me it was all in the last week. He is now only a quarter inch shorter than Susy. Mali has also grown: 3/4 of an inch in the last month.

Andrew's seat of recovery

Susy took Andrew to the doctor yesday, where he was diagnosed with strep throat and given a shot of penicillin in his butt. He's not awake yet this morning, which is a good sign.
Mali spent the day at Lilly's, then went to her dance class.

Andrew is still sick

He's been eating chicken soup and milkshakes. He was able to choke down a couple of Swedish pancakes yesterday for breakfast, but today he's just gone straight for the ice cream. We're taking him to the doctor as soon as we can get him an appointment this morning. Susy's working from home today so she can take him. Work is sort of hectic for me at the moment.
At least Andrew isn't missing any school! Today's a day off for students in the Beaverton school district, for some unknown reason. update: It's grading day, obviously.

Andrew is sick!!!

Andrew spent last night at Kyle's house, and came home this morning sick. He actually fainted while they were out washing the car this morning, and then he threw up. He came home and took a nap for a couple of hours, but he's still sick with a sore throat and his voice sounds pretty odd.

The Fountain

Andrew is spending the night at Kyle's, and Mali was with Zoë making gingerbread houses, so Susy and I went to see The Fountain. It was a beautiful movie that really wasn't very good.

Spite and Malice

Plenty of spite and malice in last night's card game, which Mali managed to win. Spite and Malice is an excellent name for that game, and we'll go with it since we couldn't find our Skip-Bo cards.
Mali was asleep twenty minutes after we finished playing, and beat me awake this morning - I saw her light come on at 5:30 again.
No snow or ice this morning, contrary to the kid's hopeful forecast, so they're at school.

Early in the morning

Mali and I are still on East Coast time. She is up at 5:30 doing a rug-hook tiger she wants to finish by Christmas. I've been awake since 3:00, and finally got out of bed at 4:00 so I could start work at 5:00 for no real reason.
Mali's soccer game tomorrow has been cancelled because the boys team they were to play can't get enough players. No one here is upset by that. It is COLD here.

It's snowing!

It snowed hard this morning, which got the kids all excited, but nothing stuck around. It's too warm. It stopped for a couple of hours, but is now snowing like crazy, with big, fat flakes. I just opened the front door to check it out, and I can hear the soft fall of the snow just under the clamor coming from recess up the hill.

Home from Florida.

Florida isn't quite as magical when it is below 70 degrees, but we had a great time visiting with Irene and Melissa. We reintroduced them to Skip-Bo, which they introduced to us in an earlier visit (2003?). It's an old game that used to be called Spite and Malice, or Cat and Mouse.

We did manage to get in some good beach time on Saturday when the weather finally warmed up for awhile. The beach was stuffed full of people until a huge black cloud passed over, waking me up to find people packing up and leaving everywhere.

Our trip home was uneventful, and surprisingly uncrowded. The planes were full, but the airports were not. An airport worker told us we were between the morning and afternoon rush.

Photo Shoot

Irene and Susy played dress up with their Mali-doll. Then last night Susy discovered old photos on my PC, including Mali in the red dress in July 2003. Here's the before and after shots, with two of Andrew too.


Mali and Andrew, July 2003 and November 2006

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful, with lots of great food all cooked to perfection. Melissa took the best picture, so you don't get to see her.

Busch Gardens

Wednesday we drove up to Tampa to visit Busch Gardens. Amazing, going to a family theme park where the theme is beer. The first picture below is in front of a giant Anheiser-Busch eagle topiary. I couldn't help but think of Stephen Colbert.
We didn't get all the way through the park, but we had a great time.

More Florida

Today we head to Busch Gardens in questionable weather. Yesterday we played some soccer on the beach, with poor Mali heading into the water several times to retrieve the ball. (She was wearing the flip-flops.) Afterwards we hit the Y where Mali and Susy swam, and raced, and Mali won. Andrew and I played ping pong, fooseball, and air hockey. Then we headed to Olive Garden for dinner, but I made everyone pose for a picture first.

Cold Florida

No swimming yesterday. The kids wanted to look for shells, so we tried a park I found on the map, but there was actually no beach there - it was mainly for fishing. Then we headed back to the main beach by Grandma's, where they played in the sand. It was windy, and there were a few drops of rain, but no one took any notice except to not get into the water. We may try more beach hopping this morning. It was raining when I drove here (Panera's at the mall next to Grandma's), but now the sun is out. The forecast is for low 60's until Friday. Not to worry -we will find things to do.

Waterpark disappointment.

The YMCA waterpark is closed for the Winter! Apparently, it is too cold. The kids handled the disappointment fairly well, but then they weren't allowed to use the hot-tub (16 or over only), the outdoor pool was full of a swim meet, and then the teen-center closed for the day. We will go back and try it again. Mali is just old enough to use the teen center, which was full of fun stuff. The kids swam with Susy in the indoor pool while I worked out.
Today we will go find a different beach - the kids want to find one with shells. The beautiful one by Irene's is full of nothing but brilliant white sand. We will be swimming there - maybe even today.

Florida!

We made it! We arrived at Grandma Drew and Melissa's house last night in time for a late dinner. This morning Mali and I went to the beach while Susy and Andrew were still sleeping. We saw a flock of dolphins just off the beach, pelican's diving after fish, and short, little sandpiper-like birds sprinting around the waves. There is a craft fair next to the parking lot at the public beach, so we'll all go back to check that out and get in some more beach time. It was cool this morning, but is warming up, so we should be able to get some swimming in.
Update: We dragged Irene to the craft fair. Susy and Mali got some nifty, magnetized jewelry, and I got a totally cool, funky hat made out of honeycomb paper.

Fence Fall Down

We've had stormy weather for several days here. Monday morning I discovered my fence fell over on my apple tree.

Soccer's End

We are back from our weekend tour of Oregon. Medford was fun once we learned enough to discard all our pre-printed directions. We had a fun dinner with the team at an Abby's pizza. Mali's team lost their game 2-0, their first loss in 12 games, and their last game of the season.
Andrew was happy holding a yorkie before the game began. Lobbying for a yorkie of our own has begun in earnest.


After Mali's game we left immediately for Redmond, Oregon, at least once we got the van jumpstarted. Then we raced a storm over the pass and had dinner with Matias and Ethan's gang, since everyone else waited until Sunday to make the trip. The Poi Dogs lost 12-1 or something, and then we raced another storm across another pass. Below is a picture of Mali getting hot chocolate, and a coffee for her mom. Mali has discovered coffee, at least the decaffinated variety. She likes it, provided it tastes like ice cream.

Monsoon Soccer

It is still raining. It may never stop.

Andrew's game in Salem was dry, but the wind was astounding. Balls kicked high into the air would come down going the other direction. The Poi Dogs gave up several cheap goals and lost 4-1. Mali's team played at home under the lights in thick, driving rain, and no one scored.

Yesterday the eXtreme won, 3-2, in more rain. Andrew's game followed immediately, which was nice as there was no need to dry off only to get wet again. The Poi Dogs lost a heartbreaker 2-1 on a brilliant last second shot by the other team.

Tomorrow I drive up to Redmond for work and the big family dinner at the SouthCenter Red Robin.

Halloween Party Photos

I've posted several photos from the Halloween party for Mali's soccer team at the OregonDad Flikr site. Here's the address, click it to go to the site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondad/sets/72157594360125495/

Halloween

Andrew did not go trick-or-treating, but he did allow his sister to dress him up as a girl. The costume was a big hit at Alana's, where there were thirty-plus kids enjoying Olivia's mother's hospitality.

Sunday's Soccer Halloween Party

Sunday we had the sixteen girls of Mali's soccer team over for a Halloween Party. By winning or tieing all of their last ten games, they won the right to pick their coaches Halloween costume - see if you can spot him in the photo below.
Activities included: Costume contest, Donut-hanging-on-string eating relay race, M&M-on-straw relay race, treasure hunt, and a cake decorating contest.