SOLD!

The house is officially sold and no longer ours! We closed this afternoon. Hooray... we are now renters. :) We feel very blessed that we were able to sell the house so quickly for a decent price. It is a tough market. Now on to looking for that new house.

Kristin got to go to Bullwinkles Family Fun Center today with daycare. She had a lot of fun and decided she really likes to play mini-golf. They have mini-golf and some other outdoor activities and have a game room much like Chuck-E-Cheese. Sound like they all had fun.

Closing

We signed the papers this morning on the sale of our house. The buyers signed this afternoon. The documents will be recorded at the County on Wednesday - then we'll officially be renters again. For at least two months anyway. We'll be renting our house back from the buyers through August.

We went and looked at a house on a cul-de-sac this evening. Kristin liked it because it had stairs and a pretty back yard. Unfortunately, it only had 3 bedrooms and the 'bonus' room wouldn't work well as a spare bedroom. It was well kept, but was about the age where it needed everything - roof, windows, carpet, furnace, etc... so we'll keep looking.

The City is still paving in our neighborhood and everytime we leave the house Kellen wants to go find the construction equipment. :)

House Hunting

Let the fun begin! This morning we all loaded in the truck along with the wagon and headed over to the neighborhood we are looking to move to. We walked around and got to know the area a little better. We got to see where kids lived (basketball hoops, etc.) and listened for dogs. It was a nice day to be out.

This afternoon the kids played in the backyard with the water table and sprinkler. They had a pretty good time. Surprising change from last weekend when we were getting rained on at a soccer tournament. :)

Now onto a busy week, but kicked off with signing the papers on selling our current house. :)

Summer Fun

Yesterday evening we went downtown to a Portland Beavers Triple A baseball game. It was 'Dollar Dogs' night, so we all had hotdogs for dinner. The kids also enjoyed some ice cream treats. The stadium has a lower bowl and and upper bowl of seating, with a wide aisle between the two. We sat in the first row of the upper bowl. Early in the game, Kellen was peaking over into the aisle and he said 'I found one! I found one!' I thought he was looking inside a recycling bin at a bottle so I told him no he couldn't have it. Later in the game, we spilled some popcorn and a piece landed in someone's stroller that was parked in the aisle. I leaned over to pick it out and I noticed the baseball behind the recycling bin. That must have been what Kellen was telling me. So, the kids got a baseball. We think it must have been from batting practice. Later in the game, the mascot, Lucky, came by for high fives. He even took that stroller that was parked in front of use for a joy ride. The kids thought that was pretty neat. To top off the night, as we were leaving the stadium there was an older gentlemen who was an usher at the exit. As we were walking by he reached into his pocket and gave Kellen a baseball! So we ended up with two baseballs for the evening!

Today Kristin went to a birthday party at the rec center where she has swim lessons. Sounds like they got to play several different games in the gym and then went into a party room for cake and ice cream.

This afternoon/evening, we went to a BBQ that a friend from hockey was having. There were plenty of other kids there, so Kristin and Kellen had a good time. There was even another Kellen who is the same age as Kristin.

Summer Arrived

Summer arrived today. The forecast called for mostly cloudy and 78 degrees. We hit 86 degrees and mostly sunny! Finally.

This morning the kids and I made it out to the zoo for a few hours. It was a great day to be out and it was busy there. We had lunch on the lawn and even rode the train. Later in the afternoon we went to the library to check out some new books and then went shopping for a gift for a birthday party this weekend. It was nice to get outside today!

Summer?

First day of summer? We got a little bit warmer today, but still no sun. We are definitely ready for sun - we'd even take the heat at this point!

Danelle took the kids to a nearby park today to see the 'nature mobile'. Sounds like it's kind of like the bookmobile, only with more staff and activities for the kids geared toward nature. Today they attempted animal tracks with plaster of paris. Though it sounds like there was too much water in the mix so it didn't go as well as planned. Maybe next time.

...And I thought Oregonians had the corner on sustainability:

Green Dubuque... so PBS comes to town and no Isenharts get interviewed?

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Aaron and to all fathers out there!

Kristin had her first soccer tournament this weekend. She had two games yesterday and one game today. She played up on a U10 team and most of the girls in this bracket where 8 or 9 years old. She and a couple other girls from her school were the young ones at 6 and 7 years old. Kristin did a good job and did well listening to her coach. The girls had fun and learned a lot. They did lose all 3 games but they improved their team work each game. It will be fun to see how they will play in the tournament in August.

Summer to begin tomorrow... at least that is what the calendar says. Not sure that Mother Nature has gotten the message for us to have some summer too. Right now it is raining and is 58 degrees. We are ready for some sunny warm days!

2nd Grader!

Well, Kristin is now 'officially' a second grader. Her first grade teacher said she sprinkled the kids with magic dust so they are now officially second graders.

We went to Kristin's publishing party yesterday where she go to show off her work. She was even in two short plays that her class put on for us. We're very proud of her!

Movin' On Up

Kristin has "graduated" from Daisy Girl Scouts and is now a Brownie Girl Scout. :) Tomorrow is her last day of 1st Grade and then on to 2nd Grade. Wow! Busy week.

Tonight's Girl Scout meeting was a party for the girls to celebrate their year. Kristin is so sweet and wrote all of them, even the leader a note (camp note like at school). The girls had popsicles and cupcakes and talked about their favorite parts of the past year together. Now onto Brownies in the fall and I will be taking over the reigns as leader. It should be lots of fun. The girls have lots of energy and good ideas. Kristin is a little sad to see her Daisy year come to an end.

Kellen and I visited Kristin at school today and stayed for the picnic lunch outside. We were lucky and it didn't rain. It was fun to see all the kids (1st and 2nd) out eatting their lunch. Kellen even got to join in as we got him some of the hot lunch (chicken nuggets)... how can you go wrong?!

The house appraisal was today. Fingers crossed that it comes back good... next week. ;)

First Summer Soccer Tourney

Tonight Kristin learned that she gets to play in a soccer tournament this weekend with her summer development team. We weren't sure if she was going to be able to play since technically she missed the minimum age cutoff by a week and is in the program at the discretion of the coaches. The numbers worked out though so Kristin is going to play on the girls U-10 (!) team for the tourny. That means the girls are all under 10, which also means that Kristin will be playing with and against older girls. I'm a little nervous about that, but then again she would have been heartbroken if she couldn't play in the tourny.

The house appraisal is tomorrow, so of course Kellen leaked through his pullup and made a mess on the floor this evening. The appraisal should be our final hurdle in the house sale, now if only it was the final hurdle in potty training. :-)

Tomorrow is also the last evening for girl scouts until the fall. Busy day!

Last Week of School

Today kicked off the last week (4 days really) of school for Kristin. Today's theme was pajama day. It was fun to see everyone so comfy today. :) Kristin got a letter from Oma, which thrilled her. Thanks Oma! Kristin also had a play date after school with her friend and classmate Annika. Sounds like they had a lot of fun making crafts, playing soccer and eating a snack and watching SpongeBob.

Kellen and I got to watch the road crews again today. They started the paving phase today. Kellen liked that but was wanting to see the digger. No digging during paving. Lots of dump trucks though. Kellen even counted the dump trucks for me... there were 3! It is amazing how much asphalt it takes to pave a cul-de-sac.

Two Days of Sun!

Wow, two straight days of sunny, beautiful weather. Today we went to Horning's Hideout for the first time this year. It's been so wet that this weekend was our first real opportunity to go. We had a great time, and took some friends that had never been there before. The kids had a great time. They love catching salamanders and crawfish. The bigger kids would put the salamanders that they caught into buckets and Kellen enjoyed sneaking up and throwing them back into the water.

We also did paddle boating, which tends to be a favorite with the kids. There were a few peacocks out and about, but we didn't spot the albino one today. No bald eagles either, though we did see a few large hawks. All in all it was a great day and a great weekend.

Shiverybumps

A new word from Kristin tonight... shiverybumps. Yes, she was refering to goosebumps but called them shiverybumps. LOVE IT!

Kristin had an off day today, but we did manage to have some fun. Aaron got to go golfing with a friend as one of his birthday presents. Sounds like they had fun. While Aaron was out I took the kids to the library to get books and get signed up for the summer reading program. After the library we drove out to Hillsboro to a graduation party. Kellen had a lot of fun playing with their dog Chloe. As we were driving out to Hillsboro I remembered there is a new park over by my work, so I took the kids there after the party to burn some energy. Little did I know that there was a wading pool/fountain at this park. We didn't have swimsuits or even a change of clothes, but I always have towels in the trunk of the car. So, needless to say the kids had a blast and got soaking wet! We will visit there again this summer, but will make sure we bring swimsuits. :)

Camp Learned-A-Lot

Since school budgets have been cut so much, the kids don't actually go to camp anymore. I think Kristin's kindergarten class day trip to camp could be the only one of her school career. This year in first grade, they are having a whole week of camp-themed activities in class. The kids are allowed to receive 'camp mail' every day. If you are interested in writing Kristin a letter, you can send it to me via email and we'll make sure it gets to her classroom. Camp goes through next Thursday (last day of school).

Here are a few pictures from yesterday:

A Good Day

This morning, we got to go to Kristin's school and listen to her class sing a few songs and also play the xylophone and auto-harp. The music teacher also told us a little bit about the music curriculum and how it is designed to aid the children's focus. We're all for that. After the demonstration, Kristin taught me how to use the auto-harp while we all sang 'This Land is Your Land'. Kristin offered to teach Kellen, but he was playing shy so I got to be the pupil instead. It was a lot of fun.

The timing was great since while we were at Kristin's school, they were doing the inspection on our house. Things seem to be moving in the right direction, knock wood. Next step is the appraisal and then closing.

This evening Kristin had soccer practice. It didn't rain on us but was threatening to the whole time. It was still wet from raining during the day so Kristin got pretty muddy from her cleats to her waist. But she had a great practice - lots of fun and she did really well focusing. An hour and a half can be a long time to keep a first grader's attention.

Danelle took some pictures at Kristin's school - we'll try to post a few soon.

Offer

We got an offer on the house this morning!!! Woohoo! It looked pretty good and some minor things we countered on. The buyers already have an inspection lined up for tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed that things keep moving forward. :)

Kristin started Camp Learned-A-Lot today at school. Today they kicked off camp with a school sing along and everyone wore their tye-dye shirts. Tomorrow is sports attire day. Kristin wants to wear a soccer jersey and her Cyclone sweatpants.

Kellen and I ventured down the street twice today (in between showers) to watch the road crews. They were grinding and cleaning up the mess from grinding today. Due to the rain forecast they might not even pave until next week... maybe Friday. Kellen loves watching all of the equipment.

Look Dad, There's Some Alligator Cracking!

We were walking home from the park this evening when Kristin spotted some alligator cracking in the asphalt on the street. I had showed her what alligator cracking was in another part of the neighborhood where the street crews are working. My six (almost seven!) year old daughter knows what alligator cracking is. And she follows the NHL. Life is good.

There were lots of people at the playground tonight. There were two little league baseball games being played. Kristin spotted a couple of friends from her old kindergarten class and was off and running. Kellen was up and down the slide and on the swings. Then Kristin wanted to go look for baseballs. I told her I didn't think we'd find any because the grass in the ditch was too tall and wet. We didn't find any in the ditch, but we did find four(!) on the pathway behind the one field out of the three that didn't have a game going on. We were able to get three of the balls. We'll have to go back another time with a long stick to get the fourth.

It was a nice day today here. Sounds like we are back to the rain tomorrow, though the weekend is looking pretty good so far.

Puddles!

WOW! We got a lot of rain here today. We woke up to pouring and it stayed that way most of the morning. We have puddles in places we have never seen puddles before... they are mostly gone now, but that was crazy. We are so very ready for some summer like weather.

Aaron and Kristin went out shopping today after lunch to get Aaron some new glasses, shoes, etc. Kristin was really good and sound like a helper for picking things out. Kellen, Kristin and Aaron played a game of tossing the ball up in the air in the living room while they were laying on the floor. It was fun to listen to the giggles while I was cooking dinner.

Green Thumb Kellen

Kellen likes to pick dandelions. That works out well for us. He likes to ride his trike down the sidewalk and stop when he sees a dandelion in the planter strip between the sidewalk and the curb. He'll lean over without getting off the trike and stretch out to pick it. He then puts them in a little tub that is affixed to the back of the trike. He's our little weed patrol.

Danelle took the kids to the mall late this morning / early afternoon to run some errands. They stopped by Build A Bear to make a reservation for Kristin's 7th birthday party. Both Kristin and Kellen came home with new stuffies. While they were out, I edged and mowed the lawn. The grass is really growing with all the rain we've been having. It took over an hour and a half just to edge. This evening we went to some friends' house for dinner. They have a boy about Kristin's age and a girl about Kellen's age and they all played together well. Kellen enjoyed playing with the family's new puppy, a golden retriever named Rio.

Short Rain Break

We got a little break from the rain today... until about 4pm. The rain came just in time for Kristin's soccer practice. Her "summer" league is turning out to be the soggy league!!! They have had all 4 practices in the rain. Kristin is a trooper though... Aaron too. :)

We had another showing on the house today... that makes 3! Kellen and I went and played at a park to escape during the showing. Kellen also helped me plant more radishes and I got lots of lettuce and spinach picked. Yum!

Recycling Truck!

Kellen got to take home a special treat from one of the BBQ's we went to this weekend. It's a big green Tonka recycling truck. And he LOVES it. The youngest child at the host's house is Kristin's age and didn't play with it anymore.

It's big enough for Kellen to ride it around the house, and you can put things in the bin at the front and then the 'compactor' moves it to the storage at the back of the truck. He like to put matchbox cars in it. Kellen loves it so much that I found it in his bed next to him when I went to kiss him good night on Monday. He had quietly gotten up and brought it into his bed!

Looks like Danelle took the camera to Girl Scouts - I'll post a picture of Kellen and his new toy later.

Kristin has been enjoying her summer soccer program. This weekend we stopped at the store and picked up her official club uniform.

OK, here's the new toy. Also a picture of Kristin practicing some songs that she'll be singing at a school event next week.