Last Post of the Year!

A leftover snow picture. Holly took this when the snow had mostly melted. Yes, it's the Red Bowling Ball of Love poking out of the snow.

The boys and I are still in vacation mode. They've been hanging out with friends this week and running the odd errand or two with me. We've also been teaching the boys the card game Hearts over the past couple weeks and tonight started teaching them Pitch.

That's about it for 2008. We're ready for another year now!

A Post that isn't about Snow!

Well, not directly about the snow. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with Steve's family. Nice and relaxed, everyone arrived safely and left before the streets froze up again.

The Christmas Eve service at church was different, a nice kind of different though. We combined the two services that had been scheduled and didn't do the pageant since no one was sure who could make it and who couldn't. A highlight for us was Tim playing a song before the service started, The First Noel. He did a great job and it was his idea too.

On Christmas day we went out to Holly's folks. They live 20 minutes away but high enough in elevation the roads were quite a bit worse. But we made it and the boys got to play in even deeper snow than we had at home. Now the snow is almost all gone, replaced by the usual rain. Ahhh, good old Oregon rain-six more months of it and we'll see the sun again.

Still Having Fun

Over a week of snow now! A lot of the town may be grumbling but we're enjoying it. Yesterday Steve left to finish up his Christmas shopping, an easy hop on the 75 bus and into town to some nice stores. The only problem was he watched three buses go up the street to where they turn around, only they didn't turn around - they got stuck in the snow. Actually only two buses were stuck in the snow, the third one disappeared and never returned.

He gave up, hit the local stores and we all met up for lunch at the pizza place.

Yet more snow . . .

Yesterday Steve and the boys didn't have school again (and I still had to go to work, again). Grandma and Grandpa B borrowed the boys in the afternoon to finish a project for Christmas - I think they really needed an excuse to build a snowman.

This morning it's snowing - we're expecting 3-5" in Portland. So much for practicing the Christmas Pageant! I never thought I'd get excited about rain on Christmas. :)
-Holly

More Snow!

We had another day off from school yesterday (second this week) and the boys and Steve walked around the neighborhood to the library, Goodwill, down to some others stores and got a bite to eat at Subway too.

Tim looks a little cranky standing in the street-he wasn't. He had a blast running along and sliding as far as he could. Joe really got into it too.

Cold Cold Cold

Those of you not from Oregon probably don't understand-but the city is at a standstill today. That's right, it snowed a couple inches. And it's crazy cold too, 23 degrees right now. But we've had a blast, especially Tim who went out a third time today to roll around in the snow (really, I looked out and he spent a couple minutes rolling around.)
After lunch we walked down to Berkley Park to do a little sledding and have some fun. There are a couple short hills, enough to get going and enjoy it. The boys also ran around on the play structures and went down some slides, extra slick with a layer of snow on them.
And Joe just learned that there is NO SCHOOL TOMORROW! Thanks for the phone call Grandma D. Another day of playing in the snow and board games (today was Robo Rally.)

Breakfast with Santa

We drove out to Forest Grove and went to the McMenamins Grand Lodge to have breakfast with Santa, and all the grandparents too.

Tim was very excited. He dressed up and brought along a visual aid to show Santa exactly what he wanted (a Star Wars toy.) Joe was a little bit more mellow about it (definitely not a 5th grade kind of a thing to do) but reluctantly had a good time too.

Number 32??? Who has number 32????!!?

Tonight was a fund raiser at a Burgerville to earn some money for outdoor school for Joe's class. He helped out by serving the food with some of his class mates. The place was completely packed and kept getting busier all night long. Tim's good friend Elias was there so he didn't mind killing time while Joe served food.

Climbing on the roof

Holly and the boys put up the Christmas lights over the weekend. Joe had the camera and took this picture (and a bunch more) while everyone was crawling around.

OK Leaf Pile . . .

Holly and the boys raked up the leaves, several times the past couple weeks. Tim and Joe also spent some time jumping in the leaves and Holly took some great pictures. But my favorite was this one where it looks like Tim is giving the leaf pile a talking to before he jumps.

Joe's Performance

Joe's class performed last night in a Readers Theater play. The teacher described it as acting but without the movement. They read their lines, interact a little bit with each other, but the emphasis is on voice performance.
Joe did an incredible job. He really got into his part, was funny, and had a great time doing it. This is a picture (of half of his class) and he is standing third from the right.

Jumping for Joy

We did our traditional election day event last night-taping the boys legs together and making them jump around for a while. Well, I don't know that it's traditional (yet) but we did it last night anyway for no particular reason. Mostly it involved Joey making sure Tim's legs were taped together adequately, which meant a little more was needed in between each jumping session. A lot of laughing was included as well.

Happy Halloween, sugar and all!!

We've had a fun couple of days getting the pumpkins carved and the costumes finished. Joey used his wizard robe from last year and went as a Sith Lord from Star Wars. Tim went as Gilligan-the boys recently watched all three seasons of Gilligan's Island and Tim LOVED it. Holly wore her ceramic horns to work which were a huge hit. The class Steve works in spent most of the day doing Halloween related activities including eating Zombie fingers (rice crispy treats rolled into fingers with candy corn nails) and feeling Zombie brains (a bowl of cold spaghetti.) Tonight we trick-or-treated at the businesses along Woodstock Blvd, had some pizza and then came home to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood. The boys had a great time, ate some candy, and complained that they couldn't eat it all. Well, mostly it was Tim who complained anyway.

Can't blog now, too busy

In fact crazy busy right now. We decided to sell our house since so many houses are for sale in the area we'd love to move into. But since we hadn't been planning this for long there are a LOT of projects to get done. You'd think from all the lack of sleep lately (hmmmm, stress related?) every little job would be finished, but not quite yet. It will all work out and hopefully one of the houses we've fallen in love with will still be on the market when ours sells. Fingers crossed.

I snapped a picture of Holly washing the windows. If only all the projects were that easy!

Home Again

After being away for four and a half years, the Red Bowling Ball of Love has finally returned.
Yup, you read it right. When we moved out of our house on Tolman Street the Red Bowling Ball of Love was mistakenly left behind under the lilac tree. We didn't realize this until it was too late. We tried to get our friends who lived across the street to retrieve it for us, but it never quite happened.

The shortened history is: Steve gave this to Holly, the first gift he ever bought her (.50 at a Goodwill store in Eugene.) It traveled with Holly to camp in Idaho, with us to Philadelphia and back to Oregon, and became lawn art when we moved to Tolman Street.

Today we heard that an artist was now living in our old house and she was showing her work in the shed out back. This was part of a city wide event where artists opened their studios to show their work.

We visited and the artist, Kari Dunham. She was very nice, had some beautiful paintings, talked to the boys about art and did a charcoal sketch to show them how she did some of her work.

Before we left I asked for a favor: would she mind if we took the bowling ball with us-if she wasn't too attached to it. Not quite the favor she was expecting to be asked, in fact she was rather amused. She didn't mind at all so we picked it up and for now it's sitting outside by our front door.

-Steve

Fall Beach Trip

We went to Manzanita for the weekend and rented an odd little house a block from the beach. We had a great time, the sun was out and it wasn't too windy. When we weren't down on the beach walking around (or re-routing streams) we were playing games and reading up at the house. The boys watched a little TV too, Sponge Bob is too irresistible.

Last Summer Ride

As part of a fund raiser Holly and I bought Joe a slot on the ice cream bike ride that some teachers at school hosted. It was rained out last June, and rescheduled for a couple weekends ago (I'm a little slow posting the picture.)
He had a great ride with the teachers and five or six classmates that went along. They rode over the Hawthorne bridge and to an ice cream shop on the west side. They had great weather and Joe loved it.

No holdies, no shotguns, and no cherry bombs

Just a few of the rules for the game of wall ball that keeps occurring against our garage door. Holly and Tim got a game in while Joey was off on a bike ride. The next day all four of us were out there enjoying the good weather while it lasts.

Back Into the Swing of Things

We've been back to school for three weeks now and it seems like we've already figured out the routine for the year. Some time to play, run around, practice piano (and soon clarinet for Joe), and of course the home work.

Joey is working on a big project about the space shuttle. He got out his lego version of it and is thinking of using it as part of his presentation.

Tim is digging into 2nd grade homework, which involves more reading. He started Pippi Longstocking this evening. No word yet on what he thinks of it. Or why he was reading with a scarf on his head.

Happy Birthday To . . .

Holly!! She had a meeting in the morning and her staff used the time to redecorate her office - balloons, streamers, signs, flowers.

At home we stuck to presents and cupcakes. She did take a couple of her presents in to work - somewhere on her desk is the glow in the dark wind up jumping monkey.

Shrewsbury 08

We traveled down south a couple hours to the Shrewsbury Faire-an uber geek medieval festival with lots of knights, princesses, barmaids, wizards and an occasional pirate that slips in. This is the third year we've gone and the boys love it. The big production is the jousting and sword fighting-the boys preferred the black knight even though he was the bad guy. Holly and I like all the little booths selling handmade crafts. Lots of art, jewelry, pottery, and of course everything anyone would ever need to create a costume for a place like that. We actually bought a little set of "critter horns" that looked very nice on Holly. Sorry, no picture of that-check back in late October. The boys took their swords and wore costumes. Joe kept it simple with a black cape, but he wore it the whole time. Tim had a big black robe that he got to warm in and it went into the back pack pretty quick. In the past I've particularly enjoyed seeing Arthur, King of the Brittains who travels around Shrewsbury with his squire Patsy (coconuts and all). They were there again but much more amusing this year was the chia pet knight. His costume was covered in chia pet stuff-two pictures of him are included for your viewing pleasure. -Steve

Fifth and Second Grade Begins!

Today marked the first day of school for the boys. Joe is in Fifth Grade, the top of the school this year (on to middle school for grade six) and Tim is in Second Grade. Yesterday Joe got a call and was asked to do Safety Patrol, which he signed up for at the end of last year. Holly and Tim walked over to the crosswalk he was at so Tim could cross the street there. Tim is pictured with classmate and great friend, Elias.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fatefull trip

The ship isn't sailing for dreamland, as you might expect. The ship set sail for Gilligan's Island. The boys watched the first and second season this summer and are bugging me to check the third out from the library now. Meanwhile, Tim occasionally sleeps in his Gilligan hat, wants one that is white, and also is asking for a red rugby like Gilligan wears.
-Steve

All Good Things

While the boys still have a week of summer break left, I went back to work today. It was great to see everyone again and start to get the classroom set up for the year.
But for all intents and purposes (mine anyway) summer vacation is over, so here is a little video that sums up what we did this summer in less than two minutes. My apologies to anyone with a slow connection-it may take a while to load up after you click play.
-Steve

Cape Kiwanda

We went on our last little vacation before school starts. On Sunday we climbed up and around the giant sand dune and then ran down it, or fell down it, with a little bit of rolling too. A thunderstorm started about that time and we slowly made our way back to our cabin, but it passed and we stuck around a bit longer. Monday was a bit of a drag with the rain, but we still went to the beach in between showers and almost stayed dry. It was a good last vacation and the boys are ready to go back and climb the giant dune again.

Party at the Park

Today was the neighborhood picnic at Woodstock Park. There was music, food, crafts, Chinese dragons, jugglers, a puppet show about Stellaluna (a bat story), and good company too.

Uncle Charles and Nancy, visiting from St. Louis, came with the Grandparents Bullock. And Sidra and her parents (Uncle and Auntie) joined us, too. Auntie snapped the picture of the cousins on the Burgerville train (thanks for sharing Andrea). Holly snapped the other picture while Sidra and Uncle Steve were having a chat.

Art Camp

Last week the boys attended Grace Art Camp, a day camp run by Grace Episcopal Church in NE Portland. They had a great time and came home with a bunch of art projects. They both made contelays, were not quite sure how it's spelled-a five string musical instrument from (possibly) Sweeden. They also painted their own t-shirts, did drama, played capture the flag, and a number of other things.

Joe's favorite projects were the small box he painted. Now he keeps his Pokemon badges in it. He also made a glass pendant with a piece of foil inside that has a sword design on it.

Tim was proud of the viking symbols he drew on his clay disc. The camp has a folk story each week, and the boys were hearing a traditional Scandanavian story (evidently with viking overtones.) The symbols Tim drew meant ancestors home. He also drew/painted a pokeball onto glass to hang in his window.

Both boys had an incredible time at the camp and are asking to do it again next year.

At the Zoo

We went to the zoo last week and they had a dinosaur exhibit. Actually, we didn't got to that part. But Joe snapped this when Tim posed for a picture at the zoo entrance with this little guy.

We spent over five hours at the zoo and saw everything except the penguins. Tim was disappointed but too tired to care when we left. Steve's coworker Brian, and his son Lucas met us there. We had lunch in the grass and the boys took turns chasing Lucas and letting him chase them. Lucas loved hanging out with the "big boys."

The picture of Lucas and Tim was taken by Joe too.

Oaks Park

The Grandparents Denniston took the boys to Oaks Park today. For those non locals, it's a small amusement park down by the Willamette River. They had a great time, especially Joe who is now tall enough to ride the bumper cars - a life long goal of his.

Tim spent a lot of his time flying spaceships (and wishing he could ride the bumper cars).

FORE . . . uh I mean RAIN

I took the boys to the driving range yesterday. We went to the upper deck and were rained out within three minutes. Not a lite sprinkle, a pretty good downpour. So we grabbed everything and went down a level and they finished their buckets of balls under cover.

Happy Birthday Timbo!

Tim turned 7 today. We celebrated with some presents in the morning and cupcakes in the evening.

The big party was last Sunday. The usual suspects were here, in addition to our friends the Peeler's who've moved back to Corvallis, and Holly's cousin Laura from St. Louis (she lives in Phoenix right now). Laura is visiting Oregon with her boyfriend Brock.

To the left Tim is holding a bag of minerals. He also has a bag of fossils that he likes even more. Another favorite present today was the bracelet with a beetle in plastic (that glows in the dark). He wore it all day today.

The Big Vacation, Part 5 (the end)

Our last full day in St. Louis we went to the City Museum. First of all, except for the Giant Underwear (Bob's Big Boy and a few others) there wasn't anything museumy about it. Really it was a huge play land with winding tunnels that went up in the air, through walls, up and down whole stories. The pictures don't really capture what it's like (but we posted them anyway). There is an inside and outside part to the museum. It rained in the morning so we didn't get outside until the afternoon (which was perfect). They are working on building a slide that starts on the roof and will go down ten stories. So the next time we're in St. Louis . . . .

The Big Vacation, Part 4

We are back home now after a long day of travel and unpacking. They boys are still on St. Louis time. Joey got up at 5:10 this morning, Tim a little bit after that. Just a few more pictures to share from our trip. These are of the St. Louis Zoo. It was SO hot that day but we lasted for five hours. FYI-when the slide show starts you can click on the pause button and then go through them at your own pace.

The Big Vacation, Part 3

One morning we drove around St. Louis and ended up needing to use the bathrooms at the Art Museum. Since we were there we did a quick walk through of several parts and wished we'd had more time-oh well, next trip. We spent an afternoon at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It has an excellent kids section and sculptures scattered all around for kids to climb on. It was VERY hot that day but the boys found several fountains to get wet in. And the kid garden had a special section just for that.

The Big Vacation, Part 2

We are in St. Louis! The day after we arrived we went on a tour of Busch Stadium where the Cardinals play and then to a game that night. Everyone loved the tour. We saw all of the stadium, got to sit in the dugout and walk down on the field (not on the grass though-they are a little strict). That evening we went to the game. Holly the boys and I got there a little early to watch batting practice, which didn't happen because of the rain. An hour before the game started a rain shower drenched the field and the game was delayed a half hour. Then the Cardinals went on to loose 11-1. It was a miserable game to watch but the boys had a great time.

The Big Vacation, Part 1

Right now we're in St. Louis. I finally found a wi-fi spot where I could do a blog post about the first part of our vacation. Here are some pictures from our stay on the farm with Aunt Pat and Uncle Paul, Grandpa Bullock's sister and brother-in-law. We have a ton of pictures, but not of everything we did. Missing are the boys driving a tractor and catching fire-flies. The fire-flies were mostly Tim's business, Joey isn't too interested in bugs. Maybe when we get home we'll have some video to post as well. For now, here are pictures.

Joe Turns 10!

Actually, Joe turns 10 in a couple days-but since we will be in Iowa on his birthday, we had a party here in Oregon. And actually, we had a couple parties since this was Joe's turn for a "friend" party. He chose to have a Wii party which made it very easy. His friends came over, played games on the Wii, had some cake, Joe opened presents, and then they played more Wii games. Holly and I LOVED IT! So did the kids. The next day we had the same old family party, except our friends the Peeler's are back from Austin and were able to join us. Joe was very happy about that-he's missed them while they've been away. Below are some pictures from both parties. Now we have to go pack and get on a plane tomorrow. Joe is a little side tracked at the moment-he's trying to get a LEGO spaceship built before we make him pack.

Playing in the Back Yard

Finally-two nice days in a row! We had dinner outside tonight and then played some cards. Steve bought a new card game before we left for Nehalem last week, Fluxx. Everyone's been enjoying it a lot. It starts out with a simple rule, draw one card and play one card. Then as you play cards the rules change and the goal for winning changes too. You win (usually) by having the right pair of cards played to match the goal that is currently in play.

Another card game (by the same company) we've been playing quite a bit lately is Nanofictionary. In this one you play cards to create a short story-about one or two minutes long. Joe's favorite card is a character card-Men in Suits. Tim's favorite card is an ending-The Earth was Totally Destroyed. Holly likes the character card-The Super Sentient Broccoli. And Steve said he doesn't have a favorite, but is partial to the Setting card: A Beatnick Coffee House.

A Weekend in Nehalem

We celebrated the end of school with a trip to Nehalem. We rented a houseboat on the Nehalem River, which meant we were a little ways from the beach, but seconds away from paddling. It was a great stay, we didn't even have to take our canoe or kayaks, there were several to pick from on the dock of the house boat. The boys did a lot of fishing on the dock and caught several sticks. We did a couple trips to the beach, but the weather was always better on the river. We had a great time and plan on going back again another time.

Summer Break Begins!

Today was the last day of school for the boys! Now Joey is officially in 5th grade and Tim in 2nd. They had a great time today and Joey even brought a friend home to kick off summer vacation. Now we just have to wait for some summer weather. And wait, and wait. Tim looked a little distressed this morning for some reason, he was never sure why. Joey was ready for the day from the start-very excited to be finishing up. On Friday we're heading to the beach and staying on a houseboat/hotel on the Nehalem river.

CRAZY HAIR DAY 08!

It was Crazy Hair Day at school. Tim and I both did our hair up, but strangely Tim was the only one photographed. Checking back in our blog, we did a post last year of Tim's hair.

Once we were at school we got his hair to fan out even more with a little help from my co-workers, MORE gel and a hair dryer.
-Steve

CHICKEN!!!!

One of our neighbors now has four chickens. Tim and Holly went over and checked them all out (yup, they're chickens) and Tim snapped some pictures.

Talent Show

The boys performed in the school talent show last night. They did a comedy routine that started with the "One Minute" joke we posted for April Fools Day. They had a few other jokes and wrapped it up with a "magic act," making Tim disappear when Joey showed him an Artichoke, and reappear when Joey held up and Oreo cookie. They did a great job!

Not much, you?

Well, it's been busy here, but just the ordinary kind of busy. Nothing spectacular that makes us think, oooh do a blog post. Joey finished up his first session of fencing and wants to keep going. Tim is plunking away at the piano quite nicely. And they are in the talent show at school doing a comedy act together. It's coming along very nicely!
Meanwhile, here are some pictures we snapped the other day.

First Thursday Art Show

Tonight was art night at school. Both boys were docents and took turns explaining some of their classroom art to the people walking by.

Tim was talking about the sunflower paintings his class did after studying Van Gogh's paintings.

Joey was at the giant painting his class did of the school principal. Each student got a small square of the picture and enlarged it. They kept it a secret from the principal until it went up after school.

Outdoor School

Joey was at Outdoor School at Camp Kiwanilong Wednesday through Friday. And I went along as a chaperon. We had fun - below is a link to the pictures. Joey will add some stories soon! I'm too tired to write anything now. -Holly

Making Money the Hard Way

Tim finally lost his other front tooth!

This picture is a week old and the empty space that has been there for about a year is being rapidly filled. The adult tooth (for the long vacant tooth) made it's appearance as soon as he lost this one.

En Guarde!

Joe started a Fencing Class at the Parks and Rec Community Center this evening. They suited up in all the gear, learned how to en guarde, advance and retreat, and learned the three basic attacks.

He liked it, except all the gear and sword got a bit heavy after a while and made it difficult to keep his arm up the whole time. We'll miss next week because he's going to outdoor school with his class (Holly is a chaperone) but there are six classes so he'll get quite a bit more fencing in.
-Steve

A Hard Days Night

It was picture day at school today, and Tim got himself dressed. Then I got the camera and took his picture.
-Steve

A Message from The Boys

[This was a video of the boys trading off counting up to 60, end with, "You just wasted one minute of your life," followed by silliness.]

Mini Vacation

We're on an overnight trip at the Great Wolf Lodge. Basically a hotel with a water park attached to it. We got here at 2:00 and started swimming. We took an hour break to get into our room and eat dinner, and then swam again until 8:00. Everyone is exhausted but happy. We've been down water slides (three different kinds), jumped around in the wave pool, squirted water at each other, and had a GIANT bucket of water dumped on us. The pool opens at 9 am tomorrow and I can guarantee we'll be ready by 7 am. Well the boys will be at any rate. I brought ear plugs so at least I'll sleep in. -Steve

Happy Easter

We had a fun Easter this year. After church we came home for naps, yea! Tim was especially in need of one since he was so excited about the Easter Bunny coming he couldn't sleep and then woke up at 5:00. Joe did better, sleeping in until 6:00.

After naps we went out to Grandparents Bullock's for Easter dinner. Grandparents Denniston joined us too.

It was raining so the Easter egg hunt happened indoors this year. The boys didn't care too much.

Joey's Debut!

Joey joined the Drama Club this year which is made up of about 50 fourth and fifth graders. They began work just before Winter Break to put on "Blather, Blarney and Balderdash: Folke and Fairy Tales from the Emerald Isle." Joey played a leprechaun (picture below) and an Irishman. In the picture to the left he's an Irishman in an inn drinking away - which he continued to do while laying down in the next scene. The club did a fabulous job performing two evenings to crowds of about 100 or so folks (plus their performance during school). Tim went to them all - Joey's biggest fan!