More Fall Fun

On any given Saturday between September 20 and Nov 1, the Gibson Five can be found for a portion of the day down at the soccer fields. Today we had an afternoon game in the warm September sun. (Ok, let's be honest. Really, it was freaking hot. We'll take it over rain though!) I was much too busy subbing 5 year olds into the game to take pictures, but I did get this sweet one (above) after the game. I need to put my buddies on picture duty during the game because it just isn't happening for me. I have to say that I am really loving helping to coach soccer. We have the cutest, sweetest, and most talented team (yes, I am biased) on the fields. The very best part though is that a big chunk of our ittakesaplaygrouptoraiseourkids group is on our team. I love after the game when the dads and kids keep playing on the desserted field, the little ones run around (barefoot today- Carter!), and the mamas get to visit and talk about how cute and funny their kids are. It really is the best.

The other fun part of our day though was a morning drive to 'Poverty Hollow' and some quick apple picking. Who knew we could pick 52 lbs of apples in an hour?!?!?!? All those 52 pounds were from one VERY SMALL tree. I have a feeling the boys and I will be making another quick trip out there sometime this week to see if we can get more! I'm having visions of pantry shelves lined with homemade applesauce!!

G shows off his 'new' belt and buckle. (Which belonged to his Nana and his Auntie Minnie 40 years ago. Or so.)

First stop, Pear Tree. We were about a week too late for this tree- all the pears were on the ground and there were zillions of yellow jackets all over. SO. I connected with 10 year old Sarri and hopped in the tractor bucket.

Had to get that one waaaaay up there!

The Bigs and I hitched a ride down to the apple tree. They were quite concerned how their old frail mom was going to make it, but somehow, I survived.

That tree was LOADED.

Carter wanted to show Daddy his yummy apple. Want some?

Carter was too nervous to get up in the bucket, but he was a great helper from the ground.

Thanks to my hubby for being the photo guy today. ;)

Welcome Autumn!

Autumn showed up last week, but we pretty much missed her entrance with soccer and dance and school and work and sunshine. Today though she made herself quite apparent.

What better day for homemade apple-pear sauce made with fruit from Papa's farm?
Now kids are asleep with warm, full tummies and Mama has a few minutes alone- bliss!

As I've been lately channeling my inner Laura Ingalls, I am thinking that this next weekend may require a trip to the farm to harvest apples. PacNWers, have you seen the apple trees this year?

Click on this picture to make it bigger!

Last year, the boys and I joined G's preschool group at a local apple farm for picking. It was so fun, and I really thought we'd go again this year, but I think we will opt for the free bounty out Gopher Valley!

Cutest Thing Ever

Picture courtesy of CB

And to think . . . we actually got complimented on our children's behavior when the evening was over!!

The Golden Rule

Every day, many times every day actually, Garrett says something that makes me giggle. Or something that I never want to forget. Here's what I heard in the car yesterday . . .

Grayson: You know that boy that made a mistake?

Garrett, gravely serious with a low voice: You mean the one that broke the Golden Rule?

Of course later he had no idea what the Golden Rule was. However, there is obviously a little boy in his classroom who is know to Garrett only as 'the boy who broke the Golden Rule.'

Opening Day

I love opening day of soccer season. It's so cool to drive down the hill into the soccer park and see all the kids and families out on a crisp fall morning.

This year we are coaching (with the help of some friends) Garrett's kindergarten boys soccer team. They are a bunch of great little guys and we are having a great time with them. We were happily surprised to see that Garrett is in his element out there on the field. He really loved it.

Here's to a great season with good friends!





More soccer hilarity at All Things Ryan!

Fit for a Princess

Friday night we celebrated the birthday of Princess Abby. It was a grand affair and a royal time was had by all.













Check out Judy's blog to see more royal cuteness!

Kindergarten with Jesus

Yesterday my dad picked up Garrett from kindergarten.

Papa: I still remember when I was in kindergarten.

G: You were in kindergarten?? Did you have Mrs. Muldoon or Mrs. Davies?

Papa: Do you think they were teaching when I was in kindergarten, Garrett?

G: So who was your teacher? JESUS???

Big Sis

This morning was a hurried one. The alarm didn't go off, we were late to hit the ground running. Yogurt and breakfast cookies were consumed, and lunches were thrown together. In the flurried moments I didn't put notes in lunches, like I usually do. Today was a special day too- I was working in Maddy's class and Garrett had the treat of getting to eat in the school cafeteria with some friends (thanks, CB!) while I finished up my reading group.

On the way to school Maddy spelled out to me. "I-p-u-t-a-n-o-t-e-i-n-G-a-r-r-e-t-t-s-l-u-n-c-h-b-o-x." She'd known it was a special day for him, and knew I hadn't done the note thing that she swears she's embarrassed by. So as we rushed out the door she'd grabbed a piece of paper, a pen, and on the way she wrote a little note and tucked it in his lunchbox.

Dear Garrett,
I hope you had a grat day at school! I love you but your growing up so fast!
Love
Maddy

It made Garrett's day. When the morning was over and we were driving home, he told me excitedly how he opened his lunchbox and "There was this yellow note in there!! It was from Maddy!!"

My heart is so full. (Of course I snuck a note in her lunchbox before lunchtime too- how could I not? I tried to keep in non-mushy and non-embarrassing!)

Full Day!

Today (Saturday) was full of good stuff.

It started out with some (Totally not my picture, I typed 'starbucks' into photobucket),

and then on to a little of this:

Totally not my picture, I typed 'soccer' into photobucket. I actually forgot my camera. But I was so busy learning how to be a U5 soccer coach I wouldn't have been able to do it anyway!

Next, we headed to do a little horse riding, since we live in the wild west and all. I think my kids would love to be cowkids. (Not gonna happen.) And I think Garrett would love to have a dog. (Really, really, seriously not gonna happen.) What's that they say about a boy and his dog? I guess he'll have to settle for dogs at relatives and friends.

After trotting around the ol' corral, we headed to a progressive birthday party for our nephew, Dakota. Dinner at Mongolian Grill, play time at Safari Sams, and dessert at Rose's. Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy.

The whole crew at Roses.



Found these monkeys at Safari Sams!

Whew, what a day!

Uncle Gary

Why, oh why is my middle child calling himself 'Uncle Gary?' Why? And, when will it stop? Please. Please make it stop.

I am really tired of hearing that, "Uncle Gary wants another taco!" Or "Uncle Gary wants to watch a movie!" And when he says to Carter, (or anyone), "Come to Uncle Gary!" It really skeeves me out.

Seriously.

Greenness Update

Thanks to all of you for your comments on my last Green post. All of you come out of the woodwork! Ha!


-I bought a retractable clothesline from Lowes a few weeks ago. During this hot weather, I just can't bear to turn my dryer on! While it's still nice, I try to hang 3 out of 4 loads. I promised my darling daughter I wouldn't hang our unders outside, so I throw all the unmentionables and socks in the dryer, and dry them with the 4th load. The thing I love about the clothesline is that when I am not hanging stuff out, it just rolls back up and no one knows it's there. It beats laying stuff out on the trampoline. (I don't want to talk about that though.) Joel has noticed a significant reduction in the amount of electricity we are using montly, which makes me really happy! I think that I will buy a rack to mount on the wall for the winter. I am guessing I will only be able to dry 1-2 loads for every 4-5 loads on it, but it's a start! I still haven't figured out how the Europeans dry EVERYTHING on the line. EVERYTHING! Year-round! Do European teenagers (or soccer moms) whine that they "wanted to wear those jeans today?" Because there are no dryers in residences over there. Seriously.

-My friend (hi!) asked me the other day what I am going to do when the season of freshlocaleverywhereyouturn is over and our only options are Apples from New Zealand and iceburg from California. I started to answer her and then got so mad that there are apples from NEW ZEALAND in our local Safeway. (Hello! We live in the Garden of Eden of the US. WTH are there ZEW ZEALAND APPLES here? Really.) So my answer to her (and you) is that I am going to just do the best I can. I have frozen a lot of fresh local stuff (tomato sauce, berries, peaches) to use throughout the winter. It probably won't be enough, but it's a start. I'd like to freeze some green beans too, like Enviromom did. And then, when all my summer bounty is gone, or when I don't really run out of green beans, I will just be careful at the store. I told this friend that I don't feel too bad buying stuff from California. I mean, it is better than freaking NEW ZEALAND, you know? Sometimes there are options of onions from CA or from Chile. I won't be giving up oranges anytime soon. I love me some satsumas in the winter. (Scurvy!) I decided at the beginning of this quest to feed my family in a way that was both better for us and the environment that I would be celebrating the improvements and not feeling guilty about the things I wasn't changing yet. This has worked really well the past 6+ months. Any other ideas for eating, um, green, during the winter?

A couple of sites that I find helpful and are in my sidebar: Enviromom and 1 Thing NW. Enviromom is sometimes waaaay over my greenness level, but I find it a good place to get ideas. I really liked a recent post about 'Your Best Achievement and Hardest Struggle.' The other site, 1 Thing NW gives some small and doable ideas that really add up.

How about you? Any other ideas for me?

Now, please excuse me while I drive across town for the 4th time today. I have put 80 miles on my car IN MCMINNVILLE in the past 2 days. I didn't even know that was possible. See why I have to be green elsewhere???

Dr. Carter

Dr. Carter was on call this evening. Thankfully Daddy has a healthy chin, forehead, nose, cheek, and belly button. What a relief!

Portraits

Today while I was at the kids' school, I peeked in G's classroom. He was bent over his table working so diligently. I could see I wasn't interrupting the teacher, so I popped in to see what he was doing. He was working so hard on a self portrait. It was pretty much the cutest thing I'd ever seen, and I couldn't believe the amount detail he'd added. I kissed his head, and he looked up at me, confused. The confusion turned to a little annoyance, and then softened up to happy surprise.

He said to me, "Mom, I have been working so hard."

"I can see that! I am really proud of you."

He nodded and then said, "I really did my best."

"I know G. It is beautiful." (He is still little enough that 'beautiful' isn't just a girl word.)

Satisfied, he finished writing his name (in caps from bottom to top- a pastkindergartenteacher/mom's worst nightmare) and handed it in to his teacher. I kissed his head one more time and left.

Later, when I picked him up, his self portrait was all he could talk about. He said, "I really wanted to ask my teacher to give it back to me, but I was too shy." I told him that his teacher would give it back to us eventually, but she needed it for a while. He thought quietly for a bit, and then, delighted, asked me, "Do you want me to make ANOTHER one?"

Of course!

Naturally, he taped 2 pieces of paper together so his legs could be long enough. And if you've seen Garrett lately, you realize why. He's all limbs.

When the portrait was complete, he proudly taped it to the fridge. Maddy and Daddy of course went on an on about it when they got home. We've come a long way in the drawing department in the last 6 months!

Gooooo TIMBERS!

Last night we made a completely irresponsible parenting decision and took our kids to a Portland Timbers Soccer game. My dad had 4 free tickets, so we thought we'd better seize the opportunity. It was so worth it! Irresponsible because our kids didn't get to bed until 11 on a school night- Garrett's 2nd day of kindergarten at that! But oh so worth it because the kids LOVED it. When we were leaving Garrett said to me, in a quiet, serious voice, "Mom, I really like school. Not just playing school. I like that too, but . . . I really like my new school that I go to now." I agreed with him that it was a pretty great place. And then he said, "And also, I think I want to do school AND soccer now." The entire summer he has burst into tears whenever the topic of school came up. Towards the end of August he finally said he'd go to school but he would NOT PLAY SOCCER. (Yes, he yelled that, or at least announced it in bold.) It seems like now he's finally seeing everything come together and he knows it's all going to be okay. Phew!

So anyway, last night we met Joel in Hillsboro after work at our favorite place ever. Then we
caught the MAX train (Portland's light rail for you non-PACNW folks) and rode it into the city. The kids, especially Garrett, loved that. LOVED. We got to the game around half time, which was actually ideal. We watched the 2nd half and Garrett was mesmerized. It was an exciting game, and quite fun to see the crowd go wild when the Timbers scored. A few minutes into the game Garrett traded seats with me so he could sit by his dad and he kept asking questions about the finer points of soccer it was quite sweet.

Such a nice evening!

Some guys sitting next to us gave the kids these. I have no idea, but they said 'Portland Timbers' on them, so the kids were amped. Thanks to the guy for teaching our kids several new words, and then apologizing profusely and making the words in question stand out even more.

Whenever the Timbers scored the crowd, especially this section, went WILD. Garrett loved that. He told me, "I want to be over there at that party." Who doesn't?!?!