Only in Portland

Last night, all of a sudden we could hear a low flying helicopter flying right over our house. It kept making passes over our neighborhood, and was clearly circling around. Scout got a bit freaked out, since it sounded like Prison Break outside, and we started locking our doors.

We finally figured out what was going on......here is the explanation from KGW 8....local news.



So, this happened during rush hour....not only did multiple people stop and hold up traffic, but the news helicopter covered this live for about 5 minutes.......Gotta love Portland.

PS.....I love the person totally busting it trying to catch the dog!!!!

School News

So, this is something that I have mixed feelings about that I need to confess.

Last year at this time, if you came to our house, you would have heard the following things come out of my mouth...."I have heard such good things about our neighborhood school, Roseway Heights. It is so important to support your neighborhood school." Scout and I fully intended on sending Mo to the neighborhood school that is close by. By close by, I mean, Roseway is less than 2 blocks away. If the house on our corner wasn't there, I could lean off our porch and see it from our house. It is CLOSE! I had visions of walking Mo to school, hand in hand, talking about her day...yadda, yadda! Mo would need a sweet little umbrella during the winter months.....I mean, I had a whole vision.

So, where is Mo going to Kindergarten? The school where I work, Llewellyn. Llewellyn, which is in a whole, different part of town.....takes 20-30 minutes one way to drive there....most definitely, not our neighborhood school.

Do I fee like a hypocrite? Of course, I do......I won't go into the reason why we made the move, but now that we have.....I am secretly LOVING it. Llewellyn is such a sweet school, and I know everyone there, and I just feel so wonderful having Mo in that environment. It feels like I can still keep her close to us for a little while longer. Even though I am off on maternity leave for the first part of the year, and I have to drive her there everyday......I love it that she is there.

The first day, I was so emotional with her going to school....with all the changes she is experiences, and how much she will grow over this year. I couldn't have imagined her doing that at a school where I don't work.

We intended this to be a one year thing....for kindergarten only.....but we are loving it so much, who knows what we will decide next year......all I know is.....we are all so happy!

The Dining Room

Otherwise known as the deep, dark bane of my existence. I am not a huge fan of the dining room. It is dark, has awful shutters on the windows and a horrible light fixture....here are some photos to remind folks about this room.....


Don't you love the pile of junk on the floor in the right bottom corner!!!!

So here is my to-do list....

1. Do something with the light fixture
2. Recover the chairs
3. Remove the shutters and put up some curtains.....cafe-style?
4. Re-think the built-in corner cabinet....maybe take the doors off?
4. Get some decent artwork on the walls
5. Have a nice everyday centerpiece

Eventually, we want to replace the paneling that is on the lower half of the walls, and replace it real wainscoating. But that has to be on someone else's to-do list....not mine!

I usually jump around from project to project, and stuff sits half done forever (which drives me crazy)....but this time, I am taking it room by room.....keeping my focus, and getting it done. Let's see if the baby will cooperate!

What To Do.....

So, I am officially off work until January. I may have to go back in December, but I think it will work out that I won't go back to teaching until after Winter Break. Hell to the yah!!!! So anyway, I have this time on my hands. Mo is in school every day, the Bean is home with me......and I know the purpose of the whole family leave is to spend time with my baby, which I fully intend on doing. But, at the same time, it would be nice to get some projects done.....fun projects....things I never have time to do, but want to.....

I don't think many people read this blog, and frankly, it really has just been a place to record all our families comings and goings, but I want it to serve as a place where I can document things that we are doing around the house.....I mean, our house is 100 years old...it could use some sprucing up! I love looking at home renovation blogs, so I am dipping my toe in with this one. You will see more home projects posted here, if for nothing else, so I can see the progress! So, for right now, here is my "TO-DO" list......it may be complete wishful thinking that I can get this stuff done, but you never know.....

Full Circle

My first year at Llewellyn, I was pregnant with Mo. There was a student teacher named Michele that was also pregnant. We both had girls...born 10 days apart. We have become friends over the past 5 years, and so have our daughters.

Fast forward......now our girls, are both going to Kindergarten at Llewellyn....where it all began. Talk about full circle.

First Day of Kindergarten

Mo is going to Kindergarten. The day has finally come. We both knew it would, but I never thought it would be that hard....not for her, but for us. The day before it hit us that we wouldn't have a preschool any more, that her entire world was about to change. Literally, we were looking over all her first day paperwork, and Scout and I were BAWLING. Tears streaming down our faces. It was super intense. Mo was so excited. She has been ready for kindergarten for a while now, and she was about to jump out of her skin to get there.


Starting to get nervous as we waited on the playground.


Mo has her own locker...she shares with a girl aptly know as Georgia!!!




This is her table....she is ready to go.

Go Dawgs!

And, yes....I think that is some red hair!!!!

Holding the baby!

Mo LOVES to hold her sister. She is such a little mama! At first, it would scare me, just because the bean is so little, and fragile....and Mo isn't know for her delicate touch! She throws her around like a sack of potatoes! She is very sweet with her little sister, but Bean has to get a bit stronger before I totally trust Mo. So, for now, we practice. She can hold her when we are right next to her....even then, I am tempted to grab the baby away because she is being "too rough."

When she does hold her, it is super sweet. She talks baby talk to her.....gives her kisses...is just the little mommy. Warms the heart.

Grandparents!!!

The past several weeks have been busy. We have had Nana come to town to meet her newest grandbaby. We enjoyed spending time with her. Mo talked her into going to the park almost every day...one day, they went 2 times!!!! Somehow, Mo talked my 78 year old mother into going down the slide! There must be serious love there.

Also, My dad and stepmom came to visit shortly afterwards.....I had to go back to work for about 2 weeks, and they came and kept the girls for one of those weeks. It was a tremendous help, and the bonus was.....they all had a great time. They went to see The Smurfs and Winnie the Pooh. They went for walks, and just had a great time! Plus, Elaine discovered the newest ice cream shop that has WILD ice cream flavors.....I am partial to the lemon basil!!!