Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year.  Kellen was a 'cowboy-slash-sheriff' (that is how he described his costume) and Kristin was Isabella from the Disney television show Phineas and Ferb.

Cowboy (slash Sheriff) Kellen and Isabella Kristin

This year Danelle walked around with Kristin and her friend Ella while I went with Kellen and walked around with his friend Joshua.  Our weather cooperated and there were a lot of kids out this year.

October sure did fly on by this year.  Both kids finished up their fall soccer seasons last weekend.  Kellen's team had our end of season party as well.  Sounds like all of the kids want to come back and play again next fall so we'll consider that a success for coach Aaron.  Kristin finished her regular season as well, but it is hard to tell.  Her team is now participating in a three-weekend tournament.  They won their first game this morning.  Here is a picture of Kristin from one of her games this fall.  She is really strong on the ball.

Kellen really seems to be having fun with hockey.  Here he is with his friend Brendan today.  They were having fun watching the 'big' kids practice while they were waiting for their team photos.

Staying Busy

Well, we are definitely managing to stay busy so far this school year / fall.  We're about halfway through each of the kids' soccer seasons. 

Kellen's group practiced 2 nights a week from August through September, with the games starting on Saturdays in September.  We're now at 1 practice per week, and games will go through October on Saturdays.  Kellen has been having a great time this season.  He has managed to score a goal in each of the first 4 games and he is pretty excited about that.  We've got a great group of kids and families for his team.  I hope to get some pictures of Kellen's soccer before the season is over, but I'm not able to take them since I'm coaching and Danelle is often with Kristin at one of her games.  We'll have to get one of the other parents to take some photos and share them with us. 

Kristin is also practicing two nights a week, but she is playing more games.  She has averaged 3 games each weekend so far.  Her skills have really come on with all the games and she is having a great time.  It poured rain today and they played on through the rain and mud.  What a site.

The kids are also having fun in school too.  They like to go to school everyday.  Kristin had her 10 year old checkup last week (all is well) and was bummed to have to miss a couple hours of school in order to go to the appointment.  Kristin will be starting Girl Scouts here again in a little while, and Kellen is going to check out Boy Scouts this year.  Not sure that will stick since they haven't found a troop leader yet and Danelle and I just don't have time to take on any more as far as leading and coaching goes.

Oh, almost forgot.  We signed Kellen up for hockey today.  It starts next weekend and goes through March.  You know, because we didn't have enough else going on!  He is all set though, as he just lost another tooth!  You'll have to ask him the story of how he lost it.

Birthday Party with a Pink Limo - No Joke

Kristin got to attend a birthday party for a friend from softball that shares the same birthday.  The party included a ride in a very large pink SUV limo... no kidding.  They rode this to lunch and mall for a scavenger hunt.  They then got to spend the night at the girls house... outside in tents.  :)  What an experience at such a young age.

Just plain crazy!

Kristin and her friend Natalie ready to go to the party.

Pictures from Bend

Kristin and Kellen at the top of Pilot Butte with the Blue Mountains behind them.



Kristin, Bernie & Kellen at the top of Pilot Butte.

The family at the top of Pilot Butte.

Just a small portion of the 360 degree view from Pilot Butte.

Summer in Oregon

Well, it has been a crazy fun summer in Oregon.  We kept busy, that is for sure.  We'll try to catch up with some posting and pictures.  In the meantime, here are some of the fun things we did:

• Softball went through the middle of June for Kristin
• 4 soccer tournaments for Kristin
• Kellen's Tball (coached by Daddy) went through early June
• Practice for Kellen's fall soccer (coached by Daddy) started twice a week in early August
• Oma and Poppa came to visit in July
• We took a trip to southern Oregon to see Crater Lake for the first time.
• Lot's of day camps for the kids - soccer, dinosaur camp, girl scouts, a few others I can't recall just now...
• Watched a couple games of the Little League World Series of Softball live at Alpenrose ballpark. It is hosted in Portland and the semis and the final were on ESPN2).  Danelle and Kristin got on TV.
• Started a project - a new garden planter bed - a work in progress.
• Birthday parties.  Kristin's party was a Hawaiian theme at our house.  The kids also attended a bunch of birthday parties.  Two of the parties that Kristin attended involved a ride in a limousine (really).
• A trip to Bend to visit Kristin's godmother Bernie, who has relocated to Oregon from the Midwest. 
• A trip to Black Butte Ranch with some good friends.  Black Butte is a laid-back 'resort' community in central Oregon. 

I'm sure there was more... back to school next Tuesday!

Barley and Hops = A Good Time

About 3 years ago, the Portland market lost our only minor league baseball team.  The Portland Beavers were a AAA affiliate of the San Diego Padres.  This year, minor league baseball returned in the form of the Hillsboro Hops, a single A short-season affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

This past weekend, the new team introduced their new mascot: Barley.  Here is Kristin with the new mascot.

It was a fun atmosphere and they did a good job with the new ball park, which seats about 4,000.  A far cry from the Beavers' 15,000 seat venue (which is now home of the Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns professional soccer clubs and seats closer to 18,000 after renovations), but it is still a great ballpark.  We'll probably go to another game.

Camp

Last week Danelle and the kids went to Girl Scout camp at Camp MountainDale.   Danelle worked the camp as a troop leader, so Kellen got to go since there is a special 'unit' for boys who are sons of the troop leaders.  They all had a really good time.  It was a day camp for the most part, though Kristin did get to spend the night on Thursday night.  One of the camp traditions is that they don't use their real names during the week; everyone chooses a nickname to use.  Danelle was Freckles, Kristin was Torpedo (also her softball nickname), and Kellen was Roadrunner.  It was fun for me to hear them describe their days and use the nicknames of the other camp participants.  Kristin made a good friend over the course of the week - her name is Gummy Bear. 

They played fun games, learned silly songs, made armpit fudge, and did a lot of hiking.  Kellen made a marshmallow shooter out of pvc pipe.  He also told me all about how his favorite part was playing in the 'river'.  The photo here is Kellen and his river.  ;-)  The photos were provided my Kellen's unit leader.  Danelle wasn't able to be Kristin's unit leader, and unfortunately Kristin's leader didn't take pictures during the week.  She still has some great memories though!

Is it Really Almost the End of June?! Really?!

Wow, where does the time go?  For April, May, and the first half of June, we had something going on almost every evening and weekend.  I coached Kellen's Tball team.  Actually, Danelle coached too.  She was one of our two 'bench bosses' that kept the boys in line while they were on the bench waiting for their turn at bat.  Then there was softball, which Danelle and I both coached.  And of course soccer for Kristin, which goes year round.  Softball and Tball wrapped up by mid June, so now we're just down to Kristin's soccer schedule.

Kellen had a great Tball season.  We started pitching to the boys mid season.  Kellen wasn't sure about it at first, so we made a deal that he could hit from the T until he turned 6.  After that, we pitched to him and he did a great job.  He swings left handed and it looks like he will have a smooth natural swing like Kristin does.  Kellen's favorite position was probably catcher (just like big sister).  He and his friends seemed to have a great time this season and it was very rewarding to coach.  The team surprised me with an autographed baseball signed by all the boys on the team.  I keep it on my desk at work. :-) 

Kristin is a pretty phenomenal softball player.  It was a lot of fun for Danelle and I to coach her and watch her play.  She was a great leader for her team in addition to being a great player.  She only struck out once all season, and that was because her silly coach (me) told her to 'swing at the next pitch no matter what.' And of course the pitcher went from throwing perfect strikes to throwing one in the dirt about 2' in front of home plate. Kristin was great in the field too.  On the last play of the game this season, Kristin was playing shortstop.  The batter made a pop fly and Kristin hustled to get under it, called for it, and then caught it.  Then she caught a base runner not tagging up and doubled off the base runner by hustling over to touch second base for the unassisted double play.  It was a fantastic way to end the season.

The kids finished strong academically as well.  We enjoyed going to Kellen's kindergarten graduation at the daycare kindergarten program.  Kellen went to public kindergarten in the afternoon and went to daycare kindergarten in the morning this school year.  He will certainly miss his daycare teachers and friends, but we are excited to now officially be done with daycare.  Kristin will be going in to 5th grade in the fall.  Can you believe it?  It will be her last year of elementary school, since the middle schools here start in 6th grade.  I think she is both excited and nervous about entering her last year of elementary school.

Catch Up

It has been too long, I know.  Let's see... Kellen turned 6 this month!  We had Kellen's birthday party at Bricks and Minifigs (lego store).  Kristin lost another molar.  Kristin tried out for Classic Soccer U11 and made the A team!  Kristin was picked to be a Mountain Guide at school by her teacher.  She had this as a personal goal and got picked because she is a responsible kid.  :)  Mountain Guides are 5th graders that help with getting younger kids to where they need to be, monitoring hallways and bus areas, etc.  She is pretty excited.  She even had to sign a contract. 

Kellen also learned to ride his bike without training wheels.  Well, "learned" is not the right word.  We took them off on Tuesday and headed up to the school to practice without the training wheels since we had a rare night home.  Aaron held on for a second to let Kellen get going and let go and he was off.  I figured that would happen as he has been riding for many months without the training wheels ever really touching the ground.  Now he wants to ride his bike all the time.  :)

Lot more happened between the last post and today, like lots of softball and tball games.

Today we had a softball game and a tball game of course.  It was raining this morning, so we weren't sure we would have either game.  It stopped raining about the time we got to Kristin's game for warm ups.  :)  Her whole game was dry.  Her team played Lincoln and won 18-10.  We had some good pitching in the girl pitch innings, Kristin had a great line drive, and all around it was a fun time.

Kellen had a tball game after lunch.   It started raining shortly before we left and never stopped... well not until later in the evening.  The boys and coaches wanted to play so we got 2 innings in instead of 3.  Kellen started hitting off coach pitch on Thursday this week (twice on Thursday) and he had another hit today.  Way to go Kellen!

Softball Game vs. Jets - 4/27

This afternoon we had a softball and t-ball game at basically the same time.  I was at Kristin's game. Kristin and her team all played really well.  Their bats were on fire!  Kristin hit every time except for the first kid pitch inning when she was walked.  They won 17-6!  Go Fire & Ice!!! 

Kristin batting in 1st inning - kid pitch - and our wonderful cheering bench

Catcher Kristin

Great scoop!

T Ball Game vs. the Mariners

Here are a few pictures from Kellen's game on Friday night.  We missed having coach Daddy there.  The boys had fun and are starting to hit more regularly off the coach pitch.

Kellen swinging at coach pitch

Coming in to home plate

Full Swing

We're into the full swing of Tball and Softball season for the kids.  Seams like there is someplace we need to be every evening.  Probably because it is true!  The kids are really enjoying their respective sports and Danelle and I are having a blast coaching as well.

Kristin is tearing it up this season at softball.  She has grown into the team leader in both skills and cheering on her teammates.  Kellen has been doing great at Tball as well.  His team has been doing well enough that we have already introduced coach-pitch.  Kellen isn't quite sure about that yet - "It's called Tee Ball, Dad!" But he's been a good sport about it.

They're both doing well in school, too.  Kristin is working on a project with salt-dough that she shaped into a topographic map of Oregon.  I haven't seen it yet so I'm excited for when she gets to bring it home.  Kellen has a new kindergarten teacher.  The previous teacher transfered out of the school.  Seems late in the year for such a move, but Danelle says that the new teacher is fantastic.  Danelle spends a lot of time at the school volunteering so its nice to have her finger on the pulse of things there.

Hopefully we'll be able to post some pictures from the activities this spring.  Of course, that would mean that Danelle or I would need a free hand during one of the games!

Weekend Recap

Well, the weekend had some sports games, but could have had more.  Saturday was chilly and it had rained Friday night, so Kristin's 2 tournament softball games (just pool play) got rained out.  What a bummer!  We were looking forward to that.  Kellen's t-ball team still had their game after team pictures. 

Sunday afternoon Kristin had a soccer game.  The games in the spring are at Liberty High School and it is so windy up there all the time.  So, it was quite chilly, but when the sun was out it wasn't so bad. 

The rest of the weekend we pretty much hung around the house and outside.  Aaron and I got caught up on some yard work too.  :) 

Tball Season Starts

Kellen's T-ball team, the Cubs, got to start their season last night, after a rainout on Saturday.  Kellen was super excited to get to the game.  I think that is even why he woke up early yesterday.  :)  The team did well and everyone had fun at the game.  Uncle John was even able to come watch the game.

Today has been on and off rainy and sunny.  One of those spring days you need to have an umbrella and sunglasses with you.

Team getting ready for the game to start

Kellen playing catcher

Playing right pitcher

Slappy Cakes - March 11

We had a no school day on March 11, so we went out for breakfast with friends at a place called Slappy Cakes.  There is a griddle at the table and you can make your own pancakes.  The kids had fun making different shaped pancakes.  We made hearts, Mickey Mouse ears, a number 5, a number 6, circles, and not sure what else.  Kellen had fun seeing his buddies Alejandro and Jayden.

Jayden, Kellen and Alejandro

Slappy Cakes

Zoo with Friends

Today was the first day of Spring Break.  We got a call/text to go to the zoo with some friends this morning, so we went.  We ditched the idea of going to the library.  It was a bit cold at first but was a nice day to be out... even sunny.  Boy was the zoo busy though!  It was great to see the new baby elephant, Lily, and the new exhibit - pink flamingos.

Kristin, Kellen, Owen and Quinn

Lily and her mom

Pink flamingos

Kindergarten Art Project

I worked with Kellen's Kindergarten class at Sexton Mountain to create an art project to be sold at the school auction.  Here is the result... it was a lot of fun to do with the kids.

Nana & Papa Visited

Nana and Papa came out to visit during Nana's spring break.  The kids had a 3 day weekend while they where here, but still had school some of the time.  They got to see Kristin play in 3 soccer games for 2 different teams.  Unfortunately it was rainy, cold and we even had some small hail.  Oregon spring soccer normal.  The kids had a lot of fun playing with Nana and Papa and having them around.  Bella really enjoyed it too with all the walks and playtime.  She searched for them a lot the day they left.

The family

One with Bella too!

Coach Danelle!

Danelle has jumped in to the coaching arena!  She and I teamed up with a family friend to coach Kristin's softball team.  We started practices last week.  Danelle is doing a great job with the girls and it looks to be a great season.  We even got an hour in the batting cage at the local high school yesterday afternoon.  We have two left handed batters this season, Kristin being one of them.  Our lefties did the best yesterday in the batting cage.  Kellen's Tball starts in a couple weeks.  Too bad her soccer club never takes a season off, it's gonna get busy around here!

Cubs?!?

This spring I will be coaching Kellen's Tball team.  Yesterday, he and I went to pick up equipment and uniforms for the team.  Kellen had his heart set on blue uniforms.  So, given the available choices, I had to take one for the team.  At least he is super excited for the season to start.  About half of his Tball team are boys that he played soccer with last fall.

 

Chicken Pox?!

Yes, chicken pox... guess who?  Kellen came home yesterday from school with chicken pox.  Since it didn't itch, we first thought it was Hand, Foot and Mouth, but no the doctor today said chicken pox.  It is common for it not to itch since he had the vaccine, but of course the vaccine didn't prevent him from having it.  Oh well... guess he gets some time home from school, which he is super bummed.  He is liking having movie day.  ;)

Celebrating Papa

Last weekend the kids and I headed to Dairy Queen to celebrate Papa's life with one of things he loved...ice cream!  Papa's favorite was a butterscotch malt or a small cone.  We got both!  The malt was really good.

Prayers from Oregon

We love you Papa!

Another Lego Adventure

So we discovered a store in Beaverton that sells used legos.  You can by complete sets or in bulk.  They even have a couple tables where you can sift and pick through to pick individual pieces.  We took a family trip there on Thursday and had a great time looking for castle-related pieces that are missing from our sets.  Kristin enjoyed helping Danelle and I at the brick tables.  Kellen had a good time sifting through the table of mini-figures.  Upon learning that this store hosts birthday parties, Kellen immediately decided where his next birthday party is going to be. :-)

Tonight is school dance night.  Kellen and Danelle are there right now.  Sounds like Kristin wants to go when she gets home from soccer.  She caught a ride to soccer tonight with a teammate.  Yay carpools!

It was warm, sunny, and dry today. So much so that Danelle decided to mow the front lawn.  What a nice thing to come home to!

Busy weeked ahead of us.  Haircuts, two birthday parties, girl scout cookie booth sales, a soccer game.  And that's just on Saturday. :-)

Geese!

Lemme outside, lemme outside!

Legos!

While we were in Iowa, we dug up an old lego collection from my childhood.  It included a castle from the mid 80s.  The kids thought it was pretty cool, so we packed the castle and brought it back with us to Oregon.  It has been a huge hit with the whole family.  In addition to the castle, I had other mini-sets from the same theme, including a siege tower, a catapult, and a blacksmith.  Danelle had fun assembling the seige tower, but it looks like we are missing some pieces for the rest.  That set us on a journey to the Lego store at the mall in Beaverton.  While they did have some individual bricks, they didn't have any 'vintage' pieces from the 80s.  We're vintage!



Castle Legos at Oma and Poppa's

Well, it turns out that there is a huge market for legos on Ebay.  I ending up winning an action for a 'knights stronghold'.  We're anxiously awaiting its arrival.  :-)  We also discovered that Beaverton has a store dedicated to used legos.  We haven't found a time to go there yet, but I'm sure it will be fun.  Danelle and I are enjoying it as much as the kids are.

In other news, blogger's picture poster had been down for awhile, but it appears to be back up and running.  Hooray!

Day Off

Well, no school today for the kiddos and Aaron even had the day off. This afternoon we had 9 Girl Scouts in our nook area creating Valentine's Day cards for the retirement community we visit. We made 88 cards... one for each unit. The girls also made posters for their upcoming cookie booth sales in February. We had a very productive 2 hours. They even got to play for about 5 minutes while we waited for parents to pick up. 

While the girls were here, Aaron took Kellen to ice skate at Sherwood Ice Arena. They had a lot of fun, and evidently Kellen did a lot of skating on his own. Bella even got a playdate over at Cy's house. She would not have been helpful while making cards. :)

We look forward to a short and quick week. We will be on a plane to Iowa before we know it.