Healthcare Reform

I got this link from a friend and thought it was fascinating. It gives some concrete lists of what the new law involves. I figured, as a "Flamin' Lib" I'd better post it. ;)

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/03/24/health-care-explainers/

Spring Break Zoo Trip

Along with most of the rest of Northern Oregon, we decided to go to the Zoo today. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was in the mid 60s without a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately, I made some poor driving choices. I followed the signs to the overflow parking lot only to find it almost full and the line for the shuttle probably 200-people long. The shuttle was a set of school buses. I couldn't imagine trying to lift my double stroller up onto a school bus while dragging my three kids on with me. I decided to drive to a MAX station and ride the MAX to the zoo, since it stops right at the zoo and would be easier than stuffing my crew and gear onto a school bus. I drove to the closest MAX station. It has a 2-level parking structure and a label on the traffic light leading in to the parking lot that lights up when the lot is full. It was not lit. But it should have been. We drove around the entire parking structure with several other cars only to have to leave in defeat. We finally headed back home. I figured we could either park at the MAX station near our house or call it quits and just go home and play on the swingset and eat the picnic lunch I had packed. That was actually my vote, but the kids had heard the word zoo escape my lips and they were not about to go home without seeing a zoo. We got to the MAX station by our house about an hour after having set out. Next time there's a sunny day on a school vacation, we're STARTING with the MAX, that's all I have to say about it. We saw a train pull out while we unloaded the car. Another passed us by while we tried to buy our ticket. While waiting for the next train, I got into a conversation with another mom on the way to the zoo. She looked down and asked where Becca had lost a shoe. AAAARGH! I ran to the car leaving the kids trailing behind, retreived the shoe and ran back to the tracks. The next train was decent enough to make me wait another 5 minutes before showing up, but at least we didn't miss it.

 

 

So we finally made it to the zoo. The line to buy tickets was horrible, but after about 30 minutes more I was able to take my hungry, tired, and cranky kids into the actual zoo. We rushed to the back of the zoo to meet the Istooks and then toured the zoo with them. We actually saw some neat things. The baboons were right at the bottom of the cage by the glass. Becca laid claim to the biggest as HER monkey and was thrilled when he sat and ate some leaves while looking at us. (My monkey is looking at me!) We saw the hippos and lions. Anna disappeared outside the lions' enclosure. We split up to look for her and Butch found her being escourted away by a zoo employee. We gave each other hugs and stuck her in the stroller for most of the rest of the tour. We saw a giraffe up close in it's inside enclosure. We saw the sea lions up on the rocks stretching their necks. The kids had a blast being together. Then we rode the MAX home.

 

Babysitting Charlotte

 

I got to babysit for my friend the other day. Becca is crazy about her baby Charlotte. She calls her "My Baby" and gets very jealous about anyone else touching Charlotte. I let Becca hold her for a while (with me right next to them, of course) and I convinced her to give Anna a turn too. They were very cute.

 

Kip's Birthday

 

Kip turned...some age older than he had been before...on March 6th. He had a great birthday. Since that time he's had several dance parties to his new music from Grammy and we've played a LOT of games of Dominion Seaside and Intrigue. It's been lots of fun!

Becca's Birthday - the big number 2!

 

Becca had a great time on her 2nd birthday in spite of the fact that mommy was still recovering and couldn't do much for her. We ate a great dinner of noodles with red sauce. Then we opened presents. She loved that part.

 

For desert I had picked up cupcakes. She liked the frosting but didn't eat much of the cake. And now she's 2! Such a big girl!

Foot Surgery

 

I had foot surgery done on January 20th. I had a bone spur removed from the ball of my left foot that had been causing a lot of trouble for years. It wasn't a bad surgery and I recovered quickly. The kids were a little frustrated by my recovery time, though, and insisted on joining me on the sofa if I wouldn't get off to play with them.

Go Lego Fun Speed Builders

 

The 9th of January was the official Jr First Lego League competition day at OMSI. William and his team (Olivier Van Hooff, Robert Young, Spencer Istook, and Elizabeth Weiler) met there, set up their display and then waited for their turn to explain it to the judges. The place was packed and they divided all the competitors into two groups. The first group went and played and the second met with the judges. Then, after lunch-break, the second group went and played and the first met with the judges. Our group did a good job. They had researched the travel involved in getting a Nintendo DS game from the factory to the store and then to someone's house. They made a nice little Lego display with a container ship, crane, delivery truck and minivan. They enjoyed telling the judges all about it. They each got a medal to take home and were all very excited to have done it.

Grammy & Grandad's at Christmas

 

We had a really good time at Grammy and Grandad's. The hot-tub was a blast - especially helpful with Anna's nasty cough.

 

Anna learned to not fear the dog.

 

William learned to not fear the dog, too. Becca learned to enjoy the dog unless she moved in any way, then Becca ran from her in terror.

 

We really enjoyed seeing Craig and Lesley's kids, Enoch and Sarah. They are getting very cute and Becca thought they were a lot of fun.

Christmas Day 2009

 

Kip and I didn't get up early enough Christmas morning. William and Anna were forced to wait impatiently for AGES while we finished sleeping in.

 

They were very happy when we did get up and the unwrapping began.

 

Becca enjoyed it, too.

 

We are very grateful to Grammy and Grandad for letting us spend Christmas with them.

Kaysville Christmas Eve

 

We went to Kaysville for Christmas eve at the home of my mom, Grammy, who looked like a cheerful Christmas elf that night.

 

 

We enjoyed the presence of Uncle Trevor as well as Aunt Janean and Jeremy for the evening.

 

We all opened some of our gifts that night. The kids weren't very excited by the clothes they opened, but when Janean opened a box full of packing peanuts, oh, and a lamp shade, the evening was saved. The kids spent the rest of the night throwing packing peanuts in the air and having an amazingly good time.

Salt Lake Christmas

The first part of our trip to Utah was spent at a hotel in downtown Salt Lake. We road Trax around to the Chrildren's Discovery Center and the Planetarium and walked over to see the lights at Temple Square. It was fun to be right in the heart of the city.

 

Becca found the dollies at the Discovery Center and thought they were all just for her. She loved pushing them around in the stroller and putting them to sleep in their beds.

 

William and Anna played very well together in the water area and in the building area. William would make new friends and then introduce them proudly to his sister.

 

Anna discovered the heater in the hotel room and had a blast (haha) letting it blow on her.
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Christmas on the 19th

Because we were leaving for Utah on the 20th, we decided to open some of our presents on the 19th. I didn't want to have to pack them all there and back. I had decided to give Becca a dollhouse. She was THRILLED with it and could hardly be bothered to open anything else once she found it. She just sat and played with all its little pieces.


The other kids enjoyed all the gifts they got. They wished they could bring them all with us to Utah.

Gingerbread House

Anna, William and I built a Gingerbread house on November 27th. It had a few run-ins with gravity. One of the side walls broke into 3 pieces and one of the roof slopes shattered into 10+. It was lucky that the frosting managed to hold it together. I put the frosting on and the kids pushed candy into it. It turned out pretty good. Becca quickly discovered that she could reach it, especially if she pushed the stool into the right spot. She managed to eat a fair amount of the candy off it over the course of the month. Anna enjoyed helping her. William was more interested in wrapped candy from the candy bowl.

Christmas Lights

The day after Thanksgiving Butch came over to help us put the Christmas Lights on the house. We had bought all new LED lights to keep from overtaxing our power supply. Becca was very helpful with the set-up. Then, she worked on the swingset while Dad and Butch put the lights on the house.

Becca's Happy Song

This is a video of Becca being happy from the 24th of November.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween. We took our time getting going that morning. At 3:00 we suited up in our Halloween best and headed to the local trick-or-treating strip of shops. It's the one in Tanasbourne with Safeway, Trader Joes, Kinkos, etc. It's a pretty popular event. You go in costume with your bags and stop in at each store for a candy. Becca had the cute factor going and got extra here and there. And my definite favorite was the cinnamon bread given by Great Harvest. SOOO good. The kids were forced to share that with me and Kip. We stopped inside Safeway and asked if they had a large sheet of cardboard we could have. I had finally gotten around to reading my Halloween issue of Family Fun that morning. They had a picture of a "house-o-lantern" with a big window in the front filled with a cardboard jack-o-lantern face cut out of cardboard and lit from inside. I just HAD to do it in our window. Luckily, Safeway hooked us up. We took our candy and cardboard home (after a stop at cold stone for some ice cream treats because we hadn't yet had enough sugar) and spent the rest of the evening cutting the cardboard to fit the window and carving a face out of it. It turned out great. And next year we'll even get it up before Halloween day.

Grandma

In case any of you were wondering about the fact that Grandma was mentioned in the last post but not included in the pictures, I thought I would post a photo as proof that she was there.

Pumpkin Patch Trip

Grandma K came out to visit us for my birthday. She arrived October 9th and stayed the weekend. On Saturday morning we all went to a pumpkin farm in North Plains. We had a great time playing in the straw and doing the hay maze. We chose some really nice pumpkins to take home.

The kids loved having their Grandma here. Becca wanted to be with her all the time and William and Anna hardly gave her a chance to breathe. We were sad to see her go on Monday morning.

Pears

It's been a really long time since I posted an update. I just thought I'd show you all why. This is box one of about 5 more. I've been canning pears every time I have a free moment. Unfortunately, I've fallen behind on a lot of other things and decided that pears are almost more work than they're worth. Hopefully, William and Becca will enjoy eating them enough to make me feel better about the slave labor I've done...