Known

We had a wonderfully perfect Mothers Day this year: We spent the weekend back in Bend, breathing in fresh mountain air. More importantly, we soaked in the comfort of knowing and being KNOWN. Our weekend started at the High Dessert Museum, at the opening reception for a new hands on exhibit on forestry and fire safety. From there, we headed to my parents place and settled in... Then snuck back out to grab a beer with Luke and Tara. Ah! The warm embrace of friends. A chance to catch up and hash through life decisions. Yes please!

Our Friday included lots of time with Nana and Papa and an awesome playgroup at the park. The kids rode bikes and raced around the playground while I got to catch up with my gals. Jen even made an appearance with week old baby Silas. Owen did a major endo over his bike handlebars ... All I saw was feet flying through the air. Dave and Michelle were there in an instant, checking for broken bones, but the "Super Skin" came through yet again and Owen was free to hop back on his wheels. Even Josh spent about a half hour diligently guiding his strider around the quarter mile loop. I kept expecting to have to rescue him from the far side of the trail, but he eventually came back around with a big grin of accomplishment.

After Josh spent a full thirty minutes of our drive over screaming, "I want go Jackshonsh Cor-er!!" what else could we do? We met the Wiaters for a favorite dinner with our favorite people. Turned out that 3-4 other families from the boys prior school were sitting outside for dinner, too. Perfect? Not just yet. Follow dinner with gelato downtown where Owen, Lily, Josh, and Miles generously shared spoons and laughter. Now, that's perfect.

Saturday, Scott got to head out on his mountain bike with the guys, while the kids and I headed to Julie's to meet Baby Soren. Shawndi also brought over her kids, and it was heartwarming to see "the Owens" fall into their easy, started before birth, friendship at the Lego table. I got lots of time with Soren and hopefully encouraged Julie a bit that there is a light at the end of the colic tunnel. Owen then snuck in a playdate with his "school brother" while Nana managed a miserable (teething) Josh. Scott also let me savor several hours with my favorite ladies, accompanied by wine and chocolate.

We had Mothers' Day brunch at McKay Cottage, which has become a tradition. The whole weekend was about reconnecting with the places and people that nourish our spirits. I saw that in my kids playing with their friends and felt my own spirit filled by friends that have known me in high times and low. Never enough time, but soooo great to step back into that place where we are comfortable and KNOWN to the core. It was a deep breath of clear mountain air to refill our sails and motivate us to push to find the people and places that are going to nourish our spirits here in Portland.

Here we go!

So, what does the Maxwell house look like in the midst of a move? Messy, Busy, Disorganized, and Chaotic? You betcha!  We are finally to the point of being "ready" to move.  Emotionally, I'm still very sad to be leaving, but after a month+ of having our family living in two places and over 4 months of knowing about this move, I'm just ready to get it over with.  Scott has been working in Portland since the start of January.  The kids and I have done remarkably well on our own - not to say that there haven't been some ugly moments when mom's stress level clashes with kids' behavior! - but it hasn't been the daily stress that I expected.  I think we've all found our groove, but we're ready to be back together next week.

This extra time has given us a good opportunity for quality, honest goodbyes with our friends.  We have been so eager to accept any dinner invitation and any group outing over the last few months and it has been great fun to really embrace the great friends we have here.  My girlfriends surprised me TWICE with amazing gifts.  I'm wearing a beautiful necklace and matching earrings that they pooled to buy me along with a framed picture of everyone from our Christmas Party.  And at our soup swap in Early January, I went home with a MASSIVE photo album with hearfelt notes, pictures of each family, and dozens of pages chronically all our adventures over the last 4 years. Such an amazing gift!  After weeks spent wracking my brain to find an appropriate gift in return, I finally decided that heartfelt cards were better than anything else.  It's hard to put into words what these ladies have meant to me (we have walked together through newborn struggles, toddler tantrums, playgroups, field trips, group adventures, ladies nights, bike rides, soup swaps, mom's weekends, family parties, and camping weekends), but I did my best in one very, very late night.

This is the picture from last year's Christmas Party (we've added two babies and two pregnant bellies since then!), but my pic from this year is framed and packed.

We had a wonderful "House Cooling Party" to celebrate our amazing community in Bend.  I had the camera out front and center, intending to take pictures, but when I just couldn't bring myself to use it.  Taking pictures would have felt too final, and everyone keeps reminding us that this is not goodbye, only "see you later." We have amazing friends. Just for my memory, I wanted to list everyone that stopped by.

Shannon, Kaden
Luke, Tara, Ian, Gabriel
Kate, Tyler, Evan
Kevin, Julie, Hazel
Jen, Sean, Max
Shannon, Ben
Rob, Sunny, Ryder
Dave, Michelle, Piper, Calvin, Jet
Dustin, Jen, Brynn, Gavin
Alisha, Neil, Lily, Miles
Leslie
Jessica, Madeline
Brad
Phil, Max
Stephanie, David, Elijah, Caleb
Scott, Kari, CJ
Nick, Diana, Penelope, Winston

Rhonda, Peyton
Dan, Joseph, Luci

We have purged, purged, purged since October, and yet my car is again full with ONE MORE load to take to the thrift store.  The packing boxes are starting to stack up and I have a L-O-N-G list of everything that needs to be accomplished each day. This week, we are finishing packing, enjoying some last dinners with friends and getting ready to send out our "new address" cards (yes, email is probably more efficient, but I need the cards for closure).  Scott's mom is joining us on Thursday to manage the final packing and on Monday, we'll drive over the pass for the official start to our family life in Portland. Here we go!!!!

...Until We Don't

Over the summer and early fall, I took on this wonderful mantra:
"We Live Here!"
It was a way to celebrate both the place we live - the mountains, lakes, beautiful weather, places to explore - and the community in this place - friends that get us, welcoming attitude, the love of outdoors, willingness to explore, access to nature, and all the events planned with families in mind.

Each Friday in September, as we gathered with friends to hike around one of our high dessert beauties, I would turn to Michelle and marvel, "We Live Here!" Watching our kids splash in Sparks Lake with the Three Sisters rising in the background... "We Live Here!"  Sitting on the shore of Todd Lake while our kids hunt for frogs and tadpoles... "We Live Here!" Sitting outside Jackson's Corner with dear friends, pints of beer in hand, watching the boys play with their friends in their play area... "We Live Here!"  Checking in at the public pool, the one with twisty slides, water play structures, and zero-entry wading pool, waving at the friends who were already gathered and layering on the sunscreen... "We Live Here!"  Enjoying our end of summer party/graduation at the boys' school, with all the kids showing off the river they had built in the backyard, adults drinking home-brew beer, all eyes beaming at the two kids who have grown from toddlers to kindergarteners in this magical place..."We Live Here!"

Needless to say, we have come to LOVE Bend, Oregon.

The problem is, Bend, Oregon is suffering (along with the rest of the country). We know so many people, including numerous friends and co-workers, who have lost jobs and are still struggling to find a comperable position in town.  While August and September were filled with marvel at this amazing place we live, October brought the news that Scott's position is ending in Bend and my office would soon be closing. Ironically (amazingly, shockingly, coincidentally??) we received these two pieces of news within one 24-hour period.

We suddenly found ourselves in a very common position... and in a very uncommon position at the same time.  You see, Scott's job is ending in Bend, but he's been offered a transfer into a fantastic position in the Portland office. My office is closing, but I was given the option of working from home, or transferring to one of our other offices... two of which are located in suburbs of Portland.  So, after much gnashing of teeth, tears, and discernment (okay, how much discernment was really needed, given the situation??), we faced the music and are trying to get ourselves moved to Portland in January.

We are terribly sad to be leaving Bend.  The place, the people, the community.

We know Portland is an amazing City, and we recognize the amazing luck to both have jobs in the same place; a place that is not Cincinnati or Fresno, or Nebraska; a place that we would have been #1 on our list of places to move if we found ourselves jobless and out of options in Bend; a place that fits our lifestyle and values; a place that puts us 3 hours closer to family in Seattle and only 3 hours away from spending weekends in Bend.  Really, there are only two downsides to moving to Portland:
#1. We have to move
#2. Portland is not Bend.

This is the chaos that has been consuming our lives for the last 6 weeks.  How to move our family, choose a neighborhood , figure out a place to live (infinitely harder than we anticipated), find a childcare that comes remotely close Bloom, rent our house here... all the while dealing with my standard end of the year crazy at work and Scott's temp schedule of being in Portland a few days/week. Oh, and it's the holiday season. Awesome.  Stress Level = High. Faith Level = Tested. Hope Level = Wavering. Knowledge that everything will turn out for the best in the end = Solid.  Best Quote I heard this month: "Everything will work out for good in the end. If it's not good, it's not the end."


We Live Here!... Until We Don't.

The Results and Fall Festival

Costume Swap was a great success. Especially for a first year even that got planned by two people who did NOT have the time to pull it together. Between Shannon being in the first trimester of a pregnancy and my insane work schedule these days, the swap really snuck up on us. But, we pulled it together, found some great sponsors, and managed enough media contacts to pull in a decent turn out.
In my mind, the biggest success was that everybody that donated a costume to the swap was able to find a new costume for their kids. One mother brought 5 beautiful costumes to donate on Friday night and found adorable, matching fairy princess dresses, complete with hairbands and flower wands for her two daughters the next day. We watched our own green dragon costume be chosen by a little boy, who proceeded to wear it around Fall Festival for the next TWO HOURS. My own boys walked away with a red devil (so appropriate for a nearly 2 year old Josh!) and a purple king robe that put the biggest smile on Owen's face.

In the end, we will be able to donate about $200 to FAN, and that's a bonus in my book!

Our booth happened to be right between the bouncy houses and the pony rides. Owen was sooooo excited to ride the ponies, and after patiently waiting for everything to get set up, he was rewarded with one of the first rides of the day.


Next year, the biggest change would be to find more volunteers to hang out at the booth. Shannon ended up being there most of the day Saturday and by 3:00 she.was.done. With more volunteers, we could have kept the booth opened longer and probably sold 10-20 more costumes on Saturday evening. Maybe even had the booth open for Sunday as well. But, we were able to sell the remaining costumes to a local consignment shop and add the money to our donation to FAN.

Success!

Costume Swap is Coming!

Amid all the life happening, I've been working with my friend Shannon to organize the Central Oregon Children's Costume Swap. We are thrilled to have some great sponsors and excited to see how everything comes together.

Central Oregon Children's Costume Swap
October 1, 2011 at Fall Festival

How it works:

All costumes $10 (all proceeds to the Family Access Network.)

Donate a costume and receive $5 credit toward your selection; Donate 2 and select one free!

Costume drop off will be Friday, September 30 from 6-8 p.m. at the Bend-La Pine Admin Building.

Who knows how much traffic we will generate, but this is only our first year as an official event. The real goal is to give parents a venue to recycle past Halloween costumes and pick something new. Hopefully we'll raise a little bit of money for the Family Access Network along the way.

For more information, check out the Central Oregon Children's Costume Swap on Facebook or Shannon's blog.

Also, our event is affiliated with the National Costume Swap Day that is promoted by Green Halloween. If you're not in Bend, you can check out the national website to locate a similar swap in your area.

The Day it was Spring

We've had a rough few months here in Central Oregon. We always say that we go straight from Winter to Summer, but this year was especially brutal. Our "Sprin-ter" kept the temperatures near 50 degrees well through May, and then summer arrived in full force. But, on May 20, we had one, glorious, Spring Day.

We were lucky enough to be spending that Friday with our play group out in the Metolious Preserve. My friend Sarah works for the Land Trust and was able to arrange an amazing morning for us to get out in the trees, along the creek, engrossed in nature, and simply absorbing the warmth of sunshine we'd been missing after a zillion months of winter. We caravanned out through Sisters (with a crucial stop for yummy scones and coffee), pulled into the preserve, and stepped into the quiet of towering trees. I took a huge breath and knew this day was going to be a success.

We started with a little hike. Big kids running and climbing over stumps, littles in backpacks, a couple dogs thrown in the mix. At one point, I had to laugh - here I am, walking through the forest with a baby on my back, holding a dog leash in one hand, small fingers in another... the kicker being that neither the child or the dog are mine! And that seems like a pretty perfect summary of what it means to be raising children in community, don't you think? What a blessing to have these sweet friends to just LIVE LIFE with.



The kids had bug nets and magnifying boxes to explore the creepers and crawlers. The littles had a footbridge that kept Josh and his buddies (Calvin and Jett) occupied while the older kids waded in the creek. We had a picnic lunch in the clearing. And then the clothes started coming off and we had 8-10 kids splashing through the snow-melt creek in only their underwear.

A short while later, after dragging my kids back to the car, I pulled onto the highway, grinning from ear to ear, buoyed by the shrieks of joy, inquisitive eyes, and skipping feet that had filled our morning. And then I heard another beautiful sound… two sighing snores from the backseat that continued all the way home. Bliss.

Boys in the Snow

I am feeling quite behind on posting these days. Scott and I have both been slammed with work and putting in a lot of hours after the kids go to bed, so getting back on the computer after spending all day on the screen is pretty unappealing. Thankfully, we both got through some significant deadlines today and are lazily lounging catching up on our shows.

So, playing a little catch-up, here are the pictures from Owen's second skiing adventure. Last month, Scott and Papa (my dad) took him up on a beautiful, sunny Saturday. This time, Scott rigged up our kids' rock climbing harness with great success.


I think Owen looks so much older in this picture - hauling his gear up to the mountain.With Papa. My dad was so excited to take Owen up on skis. In a few years, he'll be chasing Owen all over the mountain.

Owen LOVES riding the chair lift. And we love that Bachelor lets you ride the beginner chair free on Saturdays. No rope tow!!
How's this for a beautiful day to be skiing? Kind of a killer to be stuck on the bunny hill when you can see the crystal clear view up to the summit.

Every good ski day finishes with hot chocolate in he lodge.

Success! More of the same next year, please.

Are you kidding me?

Nine days ago: We were enjoying playgroup at the pool - splashing, floating, soaking up the sun, and eating lunch outside in our swimsuits.

Eight days ago: Owen and I spent the day at my parents' Bend house and he played naked in a bucket of water on their deck. We were staying away from our house because this has been the scene for the last couple weeks:
(Scott is bravely tackling painting a large majority of our house before the baby arrives. Not a small task with our open ceilings and a large amount of painted trim. A task made harder when a 2-year old "helper" is around.)

Seven days ago: We rode bikes over to the high school to play in the volleyball pit.

Four days ago: The temperatures started dipping below freezing at night and I tried to save my tomatoes by covering them with a plastic drop cloth (that painting project has its perks).

Yesterday: I finally got my act together and got the tomato plants hung upside down in the garage to see if any of those 20 plump green ones will turn red.

This morning: I woke up, thinking we had gotten our first real overnight frost and then realized that it was a wee bit of snow falling at 7 am. An hour later, we were getting a solid dumping and the view out our front door was starting to resemble January:
By the time Owen and I left for Kiddoz (the indoor play place) to try and keep him out of the paint for the morning, the roads were covered with two legitimate inches and people were shoveling driveways. [Follow-up: Newspaper reports say we got 3-4 inches around town and up to SEVEN in some areas.] Are you kidding me? It's October 4th. I checked the calendar... twice. What happened to autumn? Everything is still summer green around here. I'd like at least a few weeks to enjoy some changing fall colors, please.

The summer/winter juxtaposition did make for some extra snow play accessories. The buckets and shovels we use for summer water play worked great to dig in the snow, and Owen spent at least a half hour digging up the leftover sidewalk chalk around our driveway and mashing it up to make red, orange, purple, and blue snow. Pretty fun. Pretty crazy!

4th of July

Bend has a great 4th of July tradition of the Pet Parade. Anyone can participate with any animal (except cats and rabbits that provoke the hunting dogs!). We learned last year that the parade has been happening since the 1930s. For our family, the parade has been happening since 2007, when we were one day away from meeting baby Owen.

Our dog doesn't make the cut, so Grandma and Grandpa joined us as spectators. This year, the weather was again hot, hot hot, so the parade (of 1000+ dogs, a handful of horses, and a slew of stuffed animals) moved really quickly and we were off the pavement and on to the family festival in the park.

We met up with Nana and Papa to lounge in the grass and watch the silly games - sack races, three-legged race, balloon toss, etc. Bend may not be little anymore, but the community really embraces stuff like this that celebrates our small town heritage. I love it! Happy Birthday USA!

We also had a BBQ with all the grandparents and stood at the edge of our cul-de-sac to watch the fireworks off the Butte. It was a great holiday weekend.

Check-up

We had Owen's 18-month check-up last week. He's doing great. Holding steady in the 10th percentile at 22.5 pounds and 31 inches. He hasn't gained any weight in the last three months, but has stretched 3 inches since the summer. I think he grew 2 of those inches since Christmas! With another haircut and those extra inches, he's really looking like a "boy." In fact, Shawndi walked into playgroup last week, looked at me, looked at Owen and said, "Who's that?" Never mind the fact that she's seen Owen almost every week since birth - she didn't recognize him!

Here's that new haircut before and after. Scottie's barber shop has officially gone from one to two clients.

Every time we make a visit to our doctor, I am reminded how happy I am with our pediatrician. They're just fantastic. So I bring you...

Ten Reasons why we love BMC Pediatrics:
1. Their office is small - only 3 doctors right now. When we call for an appointment, we see OUR doctor. When we need to get in for a same day appointment, we see our doctor or the PA (who is also fabulous).
2. They care about overall health. At our appointment, Dr. Vaughan made a point to ask about our family, jobs, the holidays, etc before focusing on Owen's physical heath. I'm sure this is to check for family stress warning signs, but it is great to know that he's thinking about all the things that play into overall health, not just whether Owen's ears and nose are clear.
3. We are KNOWN. When I call on the phone and introduce myself, Tracy says, "Hi, how's Owen." Not, "How do you spell your name?" "Are you a patient with us?" or some other question that makes you feel like a number instead of a person.
4. The nursing staff are amazing. They are warm, welcoming, and enthusiastic to see us. You could say that this is because I am personal friends with Diana, but I notice the same warmth and enthusiasm for every other family walking in the door.
5. They are respectful of personal space and attitudes. For this appointment, Owen just wanted to sit on my lap, and Dr. Vaughan didn't push it. He played peak-a-boo with Owen before doing any exam. He pretended to put the instruments in his own ears before looking in Owen's, and he generally let Owen set the pace and warm up to the exam before moving forward.
6. I never feel silly asking questions. Either in person or on the phone, I never feel like my questions are a waste of time.
7. Great age appropriate handouts and follow-up info. At every well-child visit, we get a packet with Owen's stats and key info on the front. I've looked through the handouts numerous times when I have questions about development milestones, feeding solids, discipline, etc.
8. We never feel rushed. Ever.
9. It is calm, calm, calm in that office. Only a few doctors means on-time appointments and not having to share a waiting room with 6 other sick kids and their rambunctious siblings.
10. I always feel like I am in control. I had lots of vaccine questions early on, and that was no problem. Dr. Vaughan took the time to answer my questions and share his opinions. Even now, when I'm all comfortable with the vaccine schedule, he still takes the time to talk me through each vaccine and confirms that I'm in agreement with what Owen is getting.

All this reminds me that I need to call them tomorrow and find out if we can blame splotchy skin and 4 days of grumpiness on last week's vaccines...