Sep/Oct 2019

Two months have already passed since school started. There's a lot of chatter about Halloween costumes these days but I want to write this blog to reflect on what the start of school has been like.

The kids are all incredibly full of energy, ideas, and different curiosities.  It's inspiring and exhausting.  

First day of school.  Lily is stoked to be a 5th grader while Paul and Elise are totally ok with being 2nd graders this year.

Elise is busy carving out her own place in the family making sure her interests differ from her siblings and parents.  She graduated to become a Brownie this year and is part of an all girls after school art club once a week.  She continues to be a homebody, loves playdates, and playing and cuddling with our new kitten Moxie.  At Elise's last doctor appointment for her foot, Elise's leg length difference has grown to a large enough delta that we have modified the bottom of one of her shoes so she can feel what it's like to have level hips.  It's to hopefully prevent injury and pains later in life. She says it feels so different and takes getting used to.  

At the Daisy to Brownie bridging ceremony with her troop

Cuddling with Moxie

Our Elise being Elise

Paul is busy playing junior team tennis and soccer this Fall.  It's a true joy watching him play. We always tell our kids 3 things before any kind of competitive play: 1. Play hard 2. Be a good sport  3. Have fun.  So far, they are actually listening to that advice.  Paul played in his first USTA tournament and got 2nd place. 

Random point from his finals match

Paul having a blast playing with many of his friends in the neighborhood soccer recreation league

Lily has had to deal with her first round of more emotional themes since the start of school.  We said goodbye to our beloved 18 year old Pepe.  Lily had formed a very special bond with Pepe and it showed in her grieving.  On top of that, Lily had to say goodbye to her best friend in 5th grade who moved to New Zealand.  It's the first time I've seen Lily cry as much as she has in private.  I'm grateful she has wanted to cuddle more and talk it through.  Lily is by far the busiest of probably all of us and so far she's thriving and loving it...except piano.  She is playing fall tennis and volleyball as well as taking on a role in a community production of Alice in Wonderland this holiday season.

One of the last pictures of Pepe.  Pepe rarely wanted to venture outside but we decided to let him have a final slow stroll outside in the sunshine.  

Lily enjoying tennis and her team.  She can smack the heck out of the ball these days.  There is nothing tentative about Lily on the tennis court.  I do not have to teach her power but rather control.

Lily loves practicing her ups for volleyball.  No question Lily can jump.

Halloween decorations are up!  Friendly cyclops monster for our door this year.

School pictures - 2nd grade and 5th grade

We are all looking forward to having Oma and Opa back in Portland next week after they've being gone 5 months.  Feels like it's been such a long time.   

Overall we are all healthy and doing well.  I would drop it all for the chance to move to Munich again yet I am grateful for the Portland life and friends we have.  My passion for meeting people, hearing their stories, and connecting people continues to be strong.  It's been really fun lately getting the chance to do more than usual feeding that passion with the intent to help my community.  Nate has to put up with hearing so many "guess who I met today and the cool story they shared" a lot but there is a chance he has perfected the "It looks like I'm listening but I'm definitely zoned out" face.  

Anyway, here's to the Holidays not swooping in and taking over too quickly after hopefully a dry Halloween.  

End of Summer - Reflecting on Summer Firsts

Just said goodnight to the kids on their last night of summer break. Lily is by far the most excited for school to begin.  Tomorrow begins the last school year for the next 6 years where I get to enjoy all of my kids at the same school.  This one feels like it has the makings for a very special school year.  

July and August were filled with a lot of firsts.  Our kids would say their biggest summer highlight is that we got a kitten.  Her name is Moxie.  

Our 7 year olds Paul and Elise start 2nd grade in the same class still at similar heights and weight since birth but with very different interests and friends.  Lily starts 5th grade after a summer full of sports camps and cuddling with her kitties.

Here are some of our memorable pics from summer

Lovin' our newish crew of neighborhood friends enjoying an afternoon on the river.  

Paul's first time going to a mountain biking camp.

 Two Day Mother/Daughter Date in Hood River riding horses together through the Hood River Fruit Loop and doing a fun Tamanawas hike.

 Family First to Crater Lake

 Family First floating down the river with old friends while battling hard core with water guns

Our new addition - Moxie

Had to post two - love that belly.  By far the most common phrase in our house for the last months has been "Where's Moxie?"

 Nate's first taking all the kids to a Tigers vs Mariners game in Seattle.  Mom's first enjoying a weekend at home alone.

 Family first - enjoying a nest of robins on our front porch from the day the nest started to get built to the moment they flew away.

 Lily's first time at a week long overnight Tennis Camp at OSU in Corvallis

 Nate, Paul, and Lily's first experience doing an off road triathlon

 It's our 2nd trip to Suttle Lake with our Social Saturday crew of friends but it was our first time staying in a Lakeside cabin which was a big hit.  

 First time paddleboarding with a new dog friend

Family first doing Sunday Parkways Green Belt Loop where a particular route is closed to cars and there are lots of activities, informational booths, and food booths sprinkled throughout.  Totally my jam.  Loved it.  

Summer Kick Off, Family Visit

We kicked off school being out for the summer by spending the first week in Michigan visiting family.  Before we left, life was full finishing up Lily's softball and Paul's baseball seasons.  Nate gave SO much of his time coaching Lily's softball team for the 2nd year in a row.  It was extra fun to see the season end with a string of wins, obvious improvements on the field, and a close community feel of families and players. Paul simply had a blast all baseball season and it showed with his great attitude on the field.

Paul and Elise were in the same 1st grade class with the same teacher that Lily had.  The plan is to keep them in the same class for 2nd grade per opinion of teacher and my own preference.  We'll see how long we can keep that up.  Overall, Paul and Elise say it was a good year but not great.  Paul was all about playing soccer at recess with his buddies and Elise was all about making friends, losing friends, and then making up with friends day after day groundhog style.

Lily really enjoyed her 4th grade class.  She discovered how much she enjoys history, especially Egypt.  I appreciate that Lily hasn't got caught up in girl drama at school by keeping her distance.  It does make me wonder if I should be pushing her to try a bit more to form bonds with the girls in her class and not spend so much time on her own.  She's a good student and is busy pursuing her interests; I'll just let her do her thing.

Paul and Elise with the crew on the 1st day of 1st grade

Same crew on the last day of 1st grade

Michigan was jam packed with seeing a lot of family and phew, it all worked out smoothly besides bad fall by Elise and our rental car being hit in the hotel parking lot.  Proud Nate enjoyed showing the kids the UofM campus and telling the kids a little about what his college days were like.

 Kids enjoyed spending time with their cousins.  Ann had her last chemo treatment while we were visiting.  I'm glad she and Lyle could enjoy seeing the whole family together and all their grandkids playing together.  There was an impressive wiffle ball game in their backyard.

A big highlight was seeing great grandpa Wally.  Given that his wonderful wife of 75+ years passed away 2 years ago and how apparent it is with how much he misses her, it was great to see how he continues to be the charming and fun conversationalist that we love.

Next stop was Thunder Road at my brother's cottage in Saugatuck, Michigan.  My nephew Ryan graduated high school (next stop, University of Wisconsin) so it was a special treat to just have the family together to help mark the milestone.  It was also Father's Day weekend which means steaks!  I think it could be Lily's 11th Birthday and Dad would say "we must eat steak to celebrate." 

A thrilling game of Left-Right-Center.  Lolo was the proud champion

 Cousin grub time

Oma and Opa with all their grandkids

 Left side is from 2012.  Reenactment 7 years later - 2019

All about 4th Grade Lily

My first born is 10.  Turning double digits is a fun milestone and life has been so full of new experiences for her lately.  There is much to celebrate in her life.

Lily continues to have lots of interests and is all about getting involved and trying it out.  She hasn't narrowed the playing field to focus more on a few interests yet.  The only interest that has stayed constant and strong the longest is her love of reading.  Her happy place is relaxing at home with a good book.  She can also jump crazy high which she loves to do a lot too.

 She finished her first season of club team volleyball.  It was her first experience being on a team and being introduced to what that really means.  Volleyball is so good about having to not only count on your teammates but also staying positive and cheering for your team no matter what after every point. 

Love this picture of Lily during a close game.  She had 2 practices a week and 1 full day tournament a month for 4 months.  We were nervous about the time commitment and her dedication level but nervous for nothing - she worked hard the whole time.

She wanted so bad to learn overhand serve.  Here's a video of a very happy moment of her showcasing one of her first overhand serves in a game. We need to work on consistency but this was a fun moment.

https://youtu.be/ZX6Gd8k_BZg

Lily is currently playing in her 2nd softball season with Dad as coach.  Lily loves any position that includes lots of ball action.  She especially loves being catcher these days.    I'm still confused by the motion of the pitch.  This is something I can't teach her well.  So glad Nate can.  

https://youtu.be/L-ki_IbQ4wY

Lily is finishing up her last season on the club junior tennis team 10 and under orange dot ball.  She is excited to move up to the next level in the fall which means full court and is actually going to her first overnight camp this summer with a friend and it's a tennis camp.

 Lily is very much into baking and cooking more lately.  She requested baking with her friends at her Birthday party.  The picture below is of Lily wanting to contribute to family dinner a few months ago and decided to make skewers for Oma and Opa.

 Lily loves reading the Sunday comics and prefers her hair short, falling above the shoulder. 

An early Birthday present - I surprised her with tickets to see Pink - her first music concert.  She was in total awe of the show.  She expected Pink to be standing on a stage with a microphone and that's it.  When the curtains opened and there were dancers hanging from a big chandelier and dancers all around the stage with a light show in the background, she was speechless.

Lily got the opportunity to emcee her school's talent show.  It was my first chance to see just how comfortable she can be on stage.  She also has no problem telling the crowd to quiet down. 

It only took 10 years but Lily and Pepe finally have a close kinship.  Pepe now will come visit and cuddle with her at times in her bed and seeks her out now from time to time. 

Lily got to celebrate her Birthday by also being part of her first school play.  She got to play a guard in Aladdin.  Proud Mom and Dad watching her up there.  It was so obvious how much she enjoyed it too.  She was supposed to be a serious guard but couldn't keep a smile from peeking through quite a bit.

She's not crazy into piano but takes lessons once a week and even did a piano festival to see what it was like to be judged.  Lily moved rooms and has now moved downstairs and taken over the guest room.  All the kids now have their own room.  What a luxury to have that option.  It's probably for the best.  Unfortunately, Lily and Elise fight a lot and being on different floors sometimes helps.  Lily is stubborn and strong willed and Elise is a sensitive soul.  Paul frankly puts up with quite a bit from his sisters trying to keep the peace but will blow up too if pushed too much.  I get that.  Paul and Lily can be so silly with each other and Paul makes Lily giggle quite a bit.  I know Lily wishes Paul would be more affectionate with the hugs and attention at school or while out and about but that's just not Paul's style in public (unless he's on the baseball field and one of his teammates just caught a ball - he then tackles him for a hug).

Yes, Nate and I are proud parents of Lily.  She is dedicated and engaged and pesters us whenever there is something she wants.  These days it's a kitten.  It's much more likely that she'll get a kitten soon than the other things she constantly asks about....a damn phone. 

Health and Spring 2019

2019 has been keeping us on our toes when it comes to dealing with life's curve balls.  Life has also been full of so many fun moments the last couple of months....thankfully.  

As far as the not so fun news, it's been unfortunately health related but we are confident it's all just an annoying hiccup.  We are very grateful that Uncle Eric is almost completely recovered from his January surgery to stay aggressive in fighting his GIST cancer as well as an unplanned 2nd surgery a few weeks later due to a complication.  Nate's Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer a little while ago and is currently going through chemo but the treatment plan is in place and she'll beat it.  Opa had another procedure for skin cancer and cataract surgery.  Oma is dealing with painful hip bursitis which is really impacting her mobility.  I'm getting a myomectomy surgery in about a week which will hopefully put an end to a frustrating and lengthy saga in my personal health.  I have learned anemia is no joke and not being able to do the day to day activities that bring me joy really tailspins me into a dark place. 

As far as the fun moments, there have been plenty. The ease I mentioned in my first post of 2019 is definitely long gone and we are running around from one thing to the next these days. We are a sports loving family and we are in full swing.  Spring is definitely our busy season by choice, especially for Nate.  Tennis and volleyball just isn't enough so we are tacking on baseball and softball and wow, they sure pack in a lot of games within a couple of months.  Nate is coaching Lily's softball team again and Paul is as happy as can be playing with his friends on his 1st grade baseball team. 

Elise continues to be part of such a sweet neighborhood Girl Scout Daisy Troop.  It's clear Elise wants her own thing.  If she plays tennis, it's very much preferred to be alone with me.  She wants to do roller derby now as "Elise the Beast." I am not sure how I can make it happen logistically but I'm working on it. It'll be interesting to see what interests she pursues with her internal desire to be different from the others.  It feels like the sibling dynamic is impacting her the most these days on what path she's on.  It's on my mind quite a bit on how to best navigate this with her.  

Here are some photos from the last couple months.

Our Mother/Daughter Group visited this soul boxes exhibition recently.  There are still 8 days left to check out soulboxproject.org at the Multnomah Arts Center.  Each origami box represents a life lost due to gun violence in the US. Please go.  Take your kids. 

- Over 211K deaths due to guns since 2014.

      - Over 40K deaths per year in the US

- This exhibit has 15K boxes to represent that number of deaths so far in 2019

- The goal is to have an exhibit with over 211K boxes in DC during the 2020 election year.  

- Keep making boxes

- About 60% of gun deaths are by suicide 

Seabrook Washington was our destination for 3 nights with friends over Spring Break.We were impressed; lucking out with the weather was a huge help. Seabrook is definitely worth googling - cool story to this small coastal resort town. If the weather cooperates, there are enough activities to keep everyone occupied for several days.
                                    
Love this picture of all of us just hanging out. 11 Kids and 10 adults in all.
                                                 
Nate and I had a blast at our 80's prom themed school auction.  Crimping hair sure takes a long time.
                                                     
When we do have downtime at home, I'm so glad the kids still love to play with Playmobil.

                                                       

Lily and Oma went on a date to check out Broadway's Aladdin at Keller.  

Paul is in his element on the baseball field.  Shy is the last word I'd use to describe him during games.  He leads chants and talks non stop.

 

Elise/Oma date time.  Elise is a foodie and addicted to treats. 

 

Easter 2019 - Right before the Easter Egg Hunt started

Oma did such a nice job making our front yard look so green, colorful, and festive.  Thanks Oma.