Coming Soon.....

TOMORROW I WILL UPDATE THIS BLOG!!! Obviously working full-time has taken it's toll on my blogging time! Pictures and details of the last three months coming soon =)!

First Days of School......

Abigail started school September 7th. The night before we put curlers in her hair, which has become a tradition at our house! She was in her bed for almost 2 hours "trying" to fall asleep...she went from SO excited to SO nervous..... She was very excited to be going to CAP before school, since I have to start my work day earlier this year. It's so great to see her off and on all day at school, although sometimes I don't quite believe this tall, coordinated, smart, grown-up looking girl is actually mine! She had a great first day and loves her teacher!! It's going to be a great year!!!!

My little Norah didn't start school until today. She came in last week for her "interview" with Miss Johnson, which she was pretty nervous about! Today was actually pretty tough on me. I took pictures at school and then dropped her off with sister at CAP and drove off to my other school......yikes! This the first day of any school for my girls that I have not been able to be apart of. Since Norah is my more shy child I was feel much guilt this morning! At lunch I text Miss Johnson and found out that she had done just fine! Daddy took her out for a celebration ice cream cone and she told us she made a new friend.....whose name she couldn't remember! She was very proud of her coloring project and is excited for day 2!!!!

Belated 11 year Celebration!

Near the entrance to The Oregon Garden!
Creative architecture!

Me in the hobbit hole......

Creative Bathroom Design!

The sculpture trees were very cool!

Brett and I have been married 11 years and a few days! We celebrated early in August with a gift from my parents and now we're celebrating again about two weeks after our actual anniversary. (Brett was in Vegas with his good college friends over our actual anniversary!) I include this detail not because I'm grumpy he was gone but because over the course of our marriage we have both learned how important time apart alone or with good friends can be. But to celebrate this day is also VERY important to us. 11 years of marriage is quite an accomplishment in a society where the vows of marriage seem temporary for many people. We have seen dear friends go through divorce and we know it takes a lot of effort to work through challenges in every relationship. I am thankful that our focus has been on Christ and our family through the years and I look forward to celebrating many more years!

Brett's parents gift to us was an overnight stay at the Oregon Garden....SO BEAUTIFUL! We left work a little early on Thursday and drove to Silverton. We enjoyed a delicious dinner - I had hazelnut encrusted mahimahi with blueberry sauce....Brett wished he had ordered the same =)! The restraunt sit above the Oregon Garden and has a nice view. We then took a dip in the pool and soaked in the hot tub.....a little too warm outside for the hot tub, but very nice =)! We ended the evening in the lounge listening to live music and enjoying a brownie with ice cream on top....YUMMY!!!

The next morning we headed out early to walk the grounds and see this beautiful garden. We were glad we got an early start because it was almost 80 degrees by 11:00 when we headed out. We enjoyed the ride around the grounds that helped us understand why and how the garden had started and where it is headed in the future. We also walked through most of the developed acerage and it was beautiful!

As we drove back toward Turner to retrieve our kids we made a quick stop at Sonic for a yummy lunch and a delicious Strawberry real fruit Slush........yummy!!!! Here's MANY MORE years my love...........

Swimming Lesson - finally a GREAT YEAR!

Both girls jumped off the diving board without fear!

Abigail started learning how to dive!

Norah worked on kicking across the pool!

Abigail with the kick board!

We started the girls in swim lessons the first summer we lived in Albany, Abigail was 4 and Norah was 2. We took them to The Albany Tennis and Swim Club. Brianna, a former student of Brett, was teaching there and he thought she would be good with the girls AND the class sizes were small. We have NO IDEA how important that last component would be.....

Abigail would not leave the steps in the corner of the pool for the entire two weeks. She cried, negotiated, was defiant and genuinely afraid. Brianna was AMAZING. She worked one-on-one with Abigail everyday! On the last day she would move around in the 3 foot area a little. We immediately did another 2 week session saw a little improvement. (Side note - this was AWFUL for Brett and I. We tried being patient, we tried being tough, we tried igoring her, we tried sitting near her, we tried leaving the area, we tried bribing......it was EXHAUSTING!!!!)

The next two years was a little better, but still Abigail needed one-on-one lessons and there was some form of drama every day! Norah on the other hand has always done what she's asked and since she was so young her tasks have not been very hard =)! She has had a different teacher each year and has done great for each one!

So coming into this year I feeling pretty confident. Abigail is now 7, she swam a lot during our trip to Hawaii and we have a pool in the back yard now! When I called to set up her lessons time I told Brianna that I thought she would be in level 2 and that we should try a group lesson. I'm sure Brianna hung up laughing and thought I was a little crazy! BUT I WAS RIGHT!!!! I made a deal (note to parents...after the previous 3 years I would have tried ANYTHING for this to be successful! You may agree or disagree with this parenting philosophy, but I was desperate!) with the girls that if they did everything their teachers asked without negotiating that I would pay them $ .50 a day and they would only have to take one session!

Both girls did AMAZING!!! Abigail is swimming like a pro - front crawl, elementary back stroke, regular back stroke, breast stroke, diving!!! I can't do half of those! She is a VERY graceful swimmer and for the first time I enjoyed going to swim lessons!!! Norah made a great progress with front crawl and started working on her back float and back stroke. The girls asked to attend a second session and continued their swimming growth!!!! SO EXCITING!!!!

FULL TIME.....

For the last 7 years I have worked 20-28 hours a week (well that's what I was paid for anyway....) as a music teacher. Next week I return to the work for as a full-time employee! I'm experiencing a variety of emotions about it right now....nervous, excited, overwhelmed, curious and mostly anxious. The opportunity is great, I'm combining two schools that are less than a mile apart and I have the same administrator at both schools. It also comes as Norah begins school, which is the right timing, although I was hoping for one more year at part-time.

I LOVE my job, there is nothing I'd rather do and I know God has placed me in this position at this time so I'm believing this will be a GREAT year. I have a brand new adminstrator, one brand new school, I'm explanding the choir, I have a students teacher and both of my daughters are in school....OVERWHELMING....but not impossible! I've been into both of my classrooms quite a bit over the summer, but come Monday it's ready or not....here come the meetings!

Brett's parents are keeping all the cousins next week for "Grandpa and Grandma Camp"! What a great idea.....and it will help us out SO much! I know I will work WAY too many hours next week and unlike many teachers....I LOVE THIS WEEK! I love organizing my classroom, meeting with the staff, meeting with the music teachers, going to potlucks almost every night with different staff groups and designing my vision for the year...I LOVE IT! I'm looking forward to routine, order, early bed times for the girls (and me) and my job!! Here we go full-time.....bring it on 2010-2011 school year....I'm ready!!!!!

While Daddy's Away......The Girls Did Play!!

Our new pets.....see the story below!

On Saturday morning we got up and first headed to Staples for Teacher Appreciation Day, the loot was not great.....but free anything I'll take for my classroom =)! We then headed down to Harrisburg for the neighborhood garage sale my friend Janna and I started 5 years ago when we lived there. It was fun to chat with people I rarely see AND I found some great clothes deals! I'd pretty much given up looking for clothes for the kids at garage sales because they are usually worn out and stained. This day however I found some amazing items! This gal was selling almost all Gymboree clothes that looked like they had been worn maybe 2 times and never been stained! I purchsed four adorable outfits for Abigail and one for Norah for $23.00!!!! I figure brand new these outfits would have cost at least $150.00....YEAH!!!!!

On Friday the girls spent a fun filled day with Katiemarie while I worked in my classrooms and met with my new principal! They had all kinds of fun without me....Cool Pool, McDonalds, Frogs & Pollywogs.....I think they were hoping I wouldn't come pick them up =)! Above are the frogs they purchased with a months of saved allowance and some birthday money! Norah named hers Fatty and Abigail named hers Vanessa.....hmmmm..... I'm hopeful that I can help them take care of these "pets" without a dramatic fatal ending as with our fish Azul.....who has been "swimming" in Mexico for the last 5 years =)!!!!

Saturday afternoon my friend Heather came over with her kids, Callie and Conner. We had a great relaxing visit and it was fun to watch the kids play!

Norah, Callie and Abigail

Nothern Light to see "Ramona and Beezus".......

......with Miss Johnson!

On Sunday after church we headed to Salem to have lunch with Miss Johnson at Northern Lights, while we watched "Ramona and Beezus". Such a cute movie, the girls LOVED it and I thought it was great-better than I expected! After the movie we stopped at Walmart to get the girls some school shoes and school supplies! When we arrived back in Albany we made several stops...the girls were tired! I found two pairs of Sketchers for me that were 50% off the clearance price....sooo cute and comfortable AND inexpensive considering the quality! My old Sketchers are three years old and still in GREAT shape!! It was an early bed time for the girls and I stayed up cleaning, scrapbooking and watching chick flicks until WAY too late!!! It was all fun, but I'm SOOOOoooooo glad the Brett is on his way home right now!!

Day 13 & 14: HOME SWEET HOME!

So I apparently fell of the photo wagon at the end of our trip! I did not take a single picture at our last camp ground (well it was more like a hotel except we slept in our trailer)!!

On Saturday morning we packed up and got a fairly early start. Good-bye California - HELLO Oregon. A pretty quick drive and most beautiful scenery on the way to Grants Pass. The girls were in DS land, which was ok for this leg of the journey! We met our friends, Nevin and Vicki and their 3 boys, for pizza lunch in Grants Pass. It was delicious pizza and so fun to catch up and see how their boys have grown. We see Nevin and Vicki once a year at the annual music conference, but wish it were more often!!

From there we decided to drive just a little further North to Canyonville and camp at the 7 Feather's Resort. When we arrived it was 96 degrees!!!!! WOW....not really camping, but a great way to end a long trip! A big pool, hot tub, family style showers, play ground, fitness room, internet (still not fast enough to uplaod posts!), communal fire pits that they light and maintain for you and beautifully maincured grounds. We played in pool/hot tub for about 4 hours....SO RELAXING! Brett and I each took a trip over to the casino - where they give you $5 in slots if you join the player's circle - so we each took $5 of our own and Brett came back with $10 and I came back with $15!! It was fun and we came out ahead =)!

Sunday morning we woke up to a light rain....hmmm, not sure where that came from! We ate a quick breakfast and loaded up to get home before it got too hot! After unloading and cleaning a little, we got in our own pool and relaxed! So ready to sleep in our own beds!!

As I reflect on this trip I must say I LOVE OREGON! I have taken some things for granted having been born and raised here. I always remember the Oregon coast as being drizzly, overcast and gloomy. I think back to my teen years - the weather killed every hair style I tried, made football and soccer games miserable, and in general made life gloomy. I had fun being home this time, inspite of the poor weather. I loved driving down the coast - I realized how little I've actually seen and appreciated! This trip was wonderful and created great memories for all of us.

I want to travel more and see exotic places - Hawaii, Mexico, Europe, The East Coast, New Zealand - and I hope to get to most of those places some day, BUT here in Oregon we are a short, inexpensive trip from some amazing places. I mean I LOVED Hawaii, it was great, however this trip reminded me that I can find the same beauty here and keep some money in my pocket and not sweat constantly =)! OREGON IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!