Miss Me?

Gosh.  I haven't written forever.  Seems so much has happened that I won't be able to catch up.  Sharon and I had a family wedding.  Our amazing friends and family came together to help us celebrate 15 years.   We went on a vacation to British Columbia sans children.  The kids started school.  Carson in 5th grade and Sam in 2nd.  We are planning for Carson's summer trip to Japan.  Shelby is doing great living in Portland and making her way.  We added a Wiener dog to the family (very bad wiener).  So today I start writing again as a way to procrastinate cleaning out a gross fish tank.  There, you are caught up.  Now I can move on.

Our Sorrowful Lady. I am in LoVe

You are probably aware of my ever so slight addiction to thrift stores. I love finding beauty in others cast aways and chotchkies. This month I found a few awesome gems. We recently got rid of our couch since it had become a glorified dog bed and hair attractor. Carson's allergies seem to have slightly improved since it left the house. I have been arranging the front room weekly to get a feel for how I want to sit in it.
I traded my bike for a velvet chair with my friend, Rosa. Then she gave me a chair to use until she decided what to do with it. I was looking around for a while for a great second hand chair and I ran across it in the Goodwill for 65$.
The same day I saw this painting from the next aisle and my heart skipped a beat. I love Religious art and Idols and this is so amazing. It is a painting of Our Sorrowful Lady by Paul Mihailescu. There is a listing of shows the Idol has been in including The Maryhill Museum, and the Portland Art Museum. Grand total....7.99$

Going to Haiti!

Well, I did it. I signed the papers and started the fundraising. I am going to Haiti the first week of April to work in the Port Au Prince Hospital. The hospital is open and we won't be working in Mash Tents, but conditions are still extremely bad there. The hospital I am going to is the only trauma/ICU center in the country. I am going with a team of mostly adult practitioners, but they are taking a few pediatric folks. I will be working in the pediatric ICU there with my coworker, Bryan and potentially another coworker and friend, Diana.
I am waiting on a passport. I have a call in to the Kaiser travelers clinic to get my vaccines and anti malarial meds. I will have to take chloroquine to prevent Malaria as well as sleep under netting at night. Some of the side effects are common...headache, nausea, etc. But....nightmares? I hope that side effect stays away.
I am overwhelmed by the support I have received from friends and family. I started a fundraising page and within 24 hours received over 700$ in donations from folks just wanting to help. My trip is fully funded and any extra money can be used to help my coworkers pay for their trips. I received a generous personal donation yesterday to use in anyway that will help which is greatly appreciated.
I am planning to have a donation drive at Richmond Elementary and ask for onesies, thin blankets, colored pencils, lollypops and fun stuff for kids to share with the beautiful people of Haiti. I am hoping that the principal will agree to this and that we can get a suitcase full of love for me to take.

I will keep you all posted.

A LOT CAN HAPPEN IN A DECADE......

10 years is a long time. Or it is just the blink of an eye. I can't believe Carson is 10 already. Moms have learned so many things in the last decade. Carson continues to amaze us each day.

Time for an old fashioned hoedown

Picture of me and Carson taken by my friend, Jack.










We packed up the kids (plus Manu) and headed out to Sauvie Island. Kruger's Farm hosted the annual farm hoe down. Music, dancing, hay rides to the beautiful pumpkin patch, corn maze, caramel apples, and to top it off a GIANT bonfire started by Farmer Don Kruger (with the help of some petrol). We all got pumpkins and even picked out one for Shelby. It must've been a good year for pumpkins because the field was full of perfect pumpkins. Carson got to hook up with Miriam (from the kayaking/canoeing weekend) who came from Hood River for the fun.

Fruit Loop

We took a trip with Sam's old preschool to Mt. Hood Organic Farms to pick Gala apples. The farm is not a U-Pick farm, but they open it up to the Waldorf schools in the area. The apples are crisp and delish but did we really need 45 pounds? We only caught a glimpse of Mt. Hood behind the clouds.

PUPPIES

Why did I foster these puppies? They are up all night like babies. They pee on my floor. They have needle-like teeth.....But they are so darned cute. Everyone loves a puppy. Roxy (brown girl) will be leaving tomorrow and hopefully Yoshi (black boy) will be leaving within a couple weeks. He has no interested parties yet......

Gramma Judy and Papaw Rick!

My parents came to town. A whirlwind tour of the hotspots (even though it was cold and hazy). We even hit the Oregon State Fair. I think they got a peak at Mt Hood on the very last day! Seems like with did eat a lot.

more pics from my Holga.

Ok, I was really waiting for these and only a couple turned out which is good and bad. I had BIG plans for them. I was hoping the multiple exposure hula hoop would turn out better, but....oh well.

I LOVE MY HOLGA!

I know. It is my birthday and I should be talking about how wonderful I am and posting pictures of me, gorgeous me. But, instead, I am posting pictures of Carson. Let me explain. The new love of my life is my toy camera, Holga. She takes 120 film and you have to tape her shut so her film isn't exposed to the daylight. I have taken about 5 rolls now and the first 2 were complete duds. I am starting to get the hang of it now. I took a roll of black and white film at the Rock and Roll Camp for Girls. Most of them turned out all black, but these three were the payoff. I get excited to pick up the pictures at the one place in town that develops 120 film. They scan the negatives so we can be virtual. What a concept. Here are my great shots of Carson. The lady was her "band manager". The band being The Flaming Headphones.

The Making of a Hula Hoop

After a weekend of Pickathon (photos to come....?), we have gotten our Hoop on. Carson got educated by all the true hippies on making and using your own hoops. She learned the art of neck hooping and has a full routine! Wow. If you want to make a hoop....here is the trick.....
1. Buy the plumbing tubing. We bought 100 feet for 17$ at home depot. Carson was super exited to have enough for a dozen hoops of all sizes.
2. Get the connectors.
3. Cut to the length you want. The bigger the better is what I heard.
4. Heat up the ends of the tubing with a hairdryer and shove in the connectors. Tape over seam with duct tape.
5. Decorate with "fancy tape".
6. Hoop!

Here are the how-to photos. And a special one of a lady who was on "something special" wearing a 70s jump suit and hooping away.

Sam's puppet show!

Sam's puppet camp was a success. He liked it much more than soccer camp! They each built a puppet of a Sneech and then performed the play!
Here is the puppet. I will post a snippet of the play after I download it. It takes a while to upload!

Papa Rick should come for this.

Shelby's first Pacific Ocean View! Yay!

Notice there are lots of "Shelby's First" here. Eventually, all this will just be what she does and it won't be so exciting. She is getting a big dose of "family time" this summer.

International Rose Test Garden

How can you not love all these roses? Shelby is pretending to be a Japanese tourist.