Family Portraits

family shot

 It was time. The last family portraits we had done Grace was bald and sitting on my lap. So we headed in to Portrait Innovations and got the quick package.

Hayden was obsessed with the frame - I think this is a must for Gabe & Maureen's upcoming wedding.

Hayden & Grace

Grace wasn't up for sitting still or humoring the photographer, but she was all about the boas. Thank goodness Hayden was up for it.

Portland Aquarium

The idea of having an aquaium in town thrilled Grace. She still talks about the Oregon Coast Aquarium and Ocean World. I had high hopes for the local take on it, but didn't want to get ahead of myself. We got half-price tickets from Sharing Spree and Jeff took a day off work to check it out with us, and hopefully avoid the weekend rush.

We learned two things right quick...Milwaukie is farther away than it looks on the map. We could probably get to the aquarium in Seaside faster. And...buy the season pass at Portland Aquarium if you don't want to wait an hour in line outside. Members get right in, the rest of us try to stay under cover and near the outdoor heaters. For an hour.

It's a small place, perfect for a year from now when people wander through, but right now it's packed. So many people are moving through that the food they sell for the 'feed the animals' experience could be seen floating limply in the tanks. These fishies were full up!

It's put together in a very playful and clever way. One touch pool is in the back of a boat, the jellyfish are under blacklights that really show off their beauty, and the tropical fish aquarium is gorgeous. It brings to mind visions of the sea floor when snorkling.

The shark and stingray petting pool was a favorite for the boys. Hayden kept reaching in all the way to his shoulder, not caring a bit that his sleeves were drenched. We spent most of our time there. The boys were all about the water, but Grace was more interested in checking out the aquariums that lined the room.

I think we'll check it out again - when the puffin and otter exhibits are up and running...and everyone in the metro area isn't lining up outside!

Christmas Tree

As soon as we caught a break in the rain during daylight hours, we trekked out to forage a tree. Okay, so we drove up two blocks and chose one at the Santa Lot. They even tie it to the car for you. It's one of the perks of living on the edge of town - you can get your Christmas tree in five minutes!

The boys helped get the tree in the stand this year. It's much more fun to watch the tree wrangling than to be the wrangle-ee.

After a day in the half in the garage to dry out, my men brought the beast inside. Apparently the small men are much more help getting a tree in a stand than they are getting a tree in the house. Again, happy not to be the one being yelled at.

The kids loved decorating the tree with all the ornaments. And Grace just had to put the angel atop the tree.

So far, the pups seem uninterested in the tree. They've plucked off a few ornaments, but the novelty of that wore off and they're content to ignore it. Now if I could just convince them to nap during my writing time, they'd be perfect.

Maybe I should ask Santa for help.

Gingerbread Men!

To get everyone in the holiday mood I picked up a giant gingerbread man decorating kit. I'm hoping it keeps them from asking for gingerbread houses this year. I just know I'd leave the house and come home to puppies with tummy aches if we gingerbread house...


The boys had their own designs, and Grace followed a pattern from the box. Kind of. She stopped after she realized the gummies were hearts. Then she set to using as many hearts as possible.

They looked great...but they were hard as rocks! The boys tried to take a bite...then decided to break off a foot...and yeah. Not yummy.

Thanksgiving In Pajamas

Since Bayley has to avoid cats for the next month, we're doing Thanksgiving at home. Thanksgiving in pajamas no less. To help prepare, Hayden and Grace made pumpkin pie.

What's better, they liked eating them!

We also made our traditional Oreo turkeys. This year they were extra chocolate-y. An Oreo, a peanut butter cup, a kiss & Reeses pieces!

The cooking was going along swimmingly until...the oven weirded out again! We knew that after the last repair the warranty had expired and it would be a pretty penny to fix it. So, we hit the Black Friday sales for a new oven of all things.

Thanksgiving Performance

Grace's preschool had the parents come in a few minutes early so the kiddos could sing us a song and give us a handprint turkey telling us what they are thankful for. Grace? She's thankful for circles. OK...

I tried to video the song...but the camera stopped a few seconds in...

Grace also had a turkey where she had to list something to be thankful for on every turkey feather : my mom, my dad, my brothers, my dogs, strawberries, circles & Choppy. Who is Choppy? Her imaginary cat.

Everything's Okay Now...

Bayley gave us quite the scare this week. He woke up on Tuesday morning and didn't feel right. I thought he was either coming down with something or still tired from that weekend's camping trip with the Boy Scouts. I figured he'd go back to bed and by the afternoon he'd either feel better or need some chicken soup.

I took Grace to gymnastics and came home to find a boy who could barely speak. He could breathe, but didn't feel like he was getting any oxygen from it. And wouldn't you know, seconds before the power had gone out and my cell phone was dead.

Getting him into the car was a challenge. He could only take three steps before he had to sit down and rest. As I wrangled the dogs and got the girl ready to go, I considered carrying him. For those who haven't seen him...the kid is 5'4" That would be a tall order, and my physical therapist would probably slap me. But thankfully, he was downstairs by the time I had everyone else squared away.

I begged Tina to take Grace (even though her parents were in town for the holiday, so sorry) and decided to take Bayley to the ER. They triaged him right away because they could tell he needed to be on oxygen. I hope I never see a pulse-ox in the eighties again.

He got his first IV, first blood draw, first breathing treatment...and after a chest x-ray, lots of listening and a steroid perscription, we were allowed to go home.

The next day we saw the pediatrician. There's no way to know if it is asthma or chronic bronchitis until his lungs heal and we can do asthma and allergy testing. Last February he had bronchitis, and he hasn't felt 100% since.

While we wait for him to recover, he is on an inhaled steroid and has to avoid any known allergy triggers (dust, cats) and people with respiratory illnesses for a month. Fingers crossed!

Court of Honor

Twice a year Bayley's Boy Scout troop hold a court of honor, where all the boys are recognized for their acheivements and advancements. Bayley moved up to a Second Class scout, and earned almost a dozen merit badges.

There have been some amazing merit badge clinics he's been able to take advantage of. Some were at the Forestry Center, some at OMSI, and one he particularly liked was out at the Daimler plant. I think it was the wind tunnel that thrilled him.

Hayden was so excited, he wanted to skip Webelos and just move on to Boy Scout. Um, not that fast, son.

Halloween

We had the best time deciding what the kids would be for Halloween. Grace still had her Cinderella costume she didn't wear last year. The boys couldn't decide on what costume to buy (Hayden thought of Thor only so he could get the hammer), so we got down the costume box for inspiration.

They all dove in and wound up with new costumes. Grace changed princesses, and opted for Snow White. No shocker since she is obsessed with the seven dwarves.

The boys opted to monster mash it. Hayden was Bozo Caesar - a toga, sash, clown wig. Nice.

Bayley tried to wear as many costume parts as he could. At last count he was a train robbing elephant pirate Vader.

When it came time to Trick-or-Treat, Grace decided to add on to her costume as well, donning her red riding hood.

Daddy missed trick-or-treat time, so we all headed out together. The boys were not happy they had to go at a Grace pace. After we made one loop, the boys were released to the neighbors to pillage the neighborhood for candy. Grace was excited that Daddy was home when she got back so she could trick-or-treat her own house and help pass out candy.

The shock of the evening? The dogs weren't bothered by all the knocking and ringing. After twelve years of Rogue going ape on Halloween, we found it quite odd.

Down Go The Trees

Last year we noticed the neighbor had a tree that had turned brown and died...and then decided to invite itself to Thanksgiving. Over the summer all the trees in the line took a turn for the worse. We had lots of people come out for advice and estimates - arborists, tree surgeons and the like. But most everyone agreed, our eight giant cedars should come down before storm season, when they might decide to go AWOL on their own.

The boys were a bit annoyed that they had to go to school instead of staying home to watch the show. After all, Dad took a day off. But I promised pictures and video...


The crew showed up bright and early. The first tree came down while I was running Grace to preschool. After that I was cursing my camera lens and trying to capture everything with the telephoto lens. I really need to get the camera looked at.

One member of the three-man crew climbed to the top of a tree, tied the top of another tree to a pulley system, then took it down in managable pieces. They we able to swing the tops of the neighbors trees into our yard the same way. It was fascinating to watch him move from tree to tree. I knew he was harnessed and safe, but I couldn't stop watching. Kind of like cirque du soliel with chansaws.

The crew on the ground sliced the limbs off and fed them into the chipper. Seeing the tops of some of the trees so dead really helped hammer home that it was time to take them down.

Once the trunks were limbed, they sliced them into pieces that we can spilt for firewood. Sometimes they didn't have another tree to rig it off of, so they took the tree down in chunks.

The last bit was felled into the yard with a might thunk. One missed the logs it was supposed to fall unto and left quite the divot in the lawn. No big worry, since we'll have to redo the whole backyard landscaping this summer.

The kids loved climbing over the wood piles...until they learned they'd have to help move it all to the side yard.

The next week a different team came to grind the stumps. They were supposed to grind them one foot below the soil. But we have no idea if this is true. The process left us with a massive pile of sawdust.

The sawdust is a lower priority than getting the wood off the lawn, split, and stacked. Bayley was thrilled to earn the first few bucks moving logs. But the joy soon wore off and he had to be bribed to move the last pile.

One thing we didn't expect - the bugs! All the bugs that lived in the trees, including the ones that caused the tree to die, needed to find new homes so they were all over the backyard that first day. GROSS!