Garden Grown

Just a little recap of our first summer gardening on the "wet side" of the state.  It is so, so, so, so much easier to plant the types of veggies that we actually eat when the temperatures are reasonably going to stay above freezing for the whole summer.  What a difference!

One of my co-workers has a greenhouse and she sold a ton of veggie starts to raise money for the Oregon Food Bank. We planted three types of tomatoes, plus peppers and basil. Because our house was still very much a construction zone during planting season, we stuck to containers this year.  The kids brought home pea starts that got added to the pots, but really needed more room.  Our only major setback was an experiment with organic fertilizer.  The fertilizer was fine... so wonderfully enriched with fish meal, in fact, that Hudson dug through all our pots in under 10 minutes the first time we fertilized. Lesson learned - all pots now go up on a bench or table after fertilization.  And, for just $10, Sarah supplied us with replacement starts for our lost tomatoes.

All summer, Owen would diligently tell our friends that we had three types of tomatoes: Brandywine, Cherry, and Early Girl... "but our early girls are NOT very early." After the replanting, in fact, the early girls were the LAST to actually bloom and fruit.

Scott built these awesome bench/planters to replace our collapsing (or collapsED) deck railing, so the pots got a serious upgrade and access to MUCH better sun about halfway through the summer.  Our peppers were very happy about the switch, and I ended up very happy that I hadn't yanked the "not producing" pepper plants out too early. Instead, we were pulling fresh peppers and tomatoes through October.


 

Then, another co-worker gave us a pile of strawberry plants, so the kids and I built a makeshift planter bed using the trunks of a couple cedar trees that we lost last winter.  Owen and Josh diligently went to work making stringing rainbow yarn around the bed to ward off iguanas.  You know, because "there are a lot of iguanas in Portland and iguanas LOVE strawberries." 

We were late planting the strawberries, so I wasn't expecting any berries this year. In the end, we got three berries, each the size of Josh's pinky finger... and the boys insisted in sharing each one. Very cute.

 

 

When Sarah brought us our replacement plants, she also added in a sunflower start, thinking the boys would like watching it grow.  Was she ever right!  That plant started just 4 inches tall, hardly distinguishable from the strawberry plants.  We took measurements against Owen's body - ankle... knee... waist... shoulder... and by July, it was already as tall as Owen, and I thought we should probably start taking pictures. 

July

August

September required a stool to get the full effect.  

Gardening with the boys was something that we all enjoyed and certainly an easy "passive" educational opportunity. Owen eats anything that comes out of the garden and I could probably live on tomato and basil recipes. I'm hopeful that less work on the house next spring will give us a chance to build at least one raised planter and try our hand at lettuce, squash, carrots and some fall veggies like broccoli.

Olympic Reflections

The other day, I found myself reading an article online about Gaby Douglas' HAIR. That's the point when I realized that perhaps the Olympic obsession has gone a bit too far.  But it's only once every 4 years, right?! But we are oh so tired from staying up for the late night coverage.

Faster! Higher! Stronger!  Here are some reflections on our Olympic experience as observers:

We let the kids stay up to watch the first half of the opening ceremony.  They loved it, but were in bed long before the parade of nations and torch lighting, which was what we were all looking forward to. Of course, Scott and I still needed to pull out Owen's new globe to find some of those island nations. Tuvalu?

The Olympics coincided with our summer swimming lessons and provided perfect motivation for Owen to work on his front crawl and start figuring out the side breathing.

We've been watching highlights of the events after breakfast or before the kids go to bed. I love watching Josh do his rendition of his favorite events. Tonight, he was doing laps of run-jump-run-jump-run-jump to mimic the hurdles. On the other hand, what's not so awesome is his rendition of the backstroke start that he is doing (repeatedly) off the side of his crib each night.

I found myself taking a much greater interest in the men's events than the women this year. Especially the men's gymnastics. I think it's because now I imagine my own boys dreaming about being Olympians instead of  imagining what it would be like to be an Olympian myself.  Man, those P&G "Thank You Mom" commercials really get ya. (Though I gotta say, I do have wicked respect for those women who have stepped away from their sport to start a family and then return to the Olympics with toddlers in toe... wowza!)

Thankfully, my boys took a great interest in the women's gymnastics, so we had plenty of excuses to rewatch the videos of those golden ladies.  They especially liked pronouncing their own judgements on each dismount.  When I showed the kids the highlights of the team final, Josh watched the vaulting and declared, "She sticked it! She sticked it! She sticked it!"

We are feeling the full effect of living in Oregon, and so close to "Track Town USA" in Eugene.  So many track athletes have ties to Oregon - many of them training in either Eugene or Portland, so each day's newspaper has a great recap of how "our" athletes (representing countries across the world) are performing. It was particularly remarkable to watch Mo Farah (Great Brittan) and Galen Rupp (USA) run as a team and go 1-2 in the 10,000 meters. And now, Ashton Eaton from BEND is in the middle of his Decathlon and we'll get another chance to watch Rupp in the 5,000. Go Oregon!

The boys loved Oscar Pestorius' "Robot Legs" - we think they're pretty cool, too.

After watching the 100M Final, Owen decided that his name should be "Owen Bolt Bolt" because he's sure that he can run faster than Usain Bolt. I'd like to see that.

Go USA!

...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.

Art Practice

I have said before how amazing our childcare/preschool is. Stephanie follows the Bev Bos philosophy that learning is about exploring and experimenting. Part of the leaning experience is using non-traditioonal materials and medium for art exploration. For example: the other day Owen came home with paintings he had created using pussy willow branches... as paint brushes. They've also strapped sponges to the bottom of their feet, painted the backyard fence (not the Tom Saywer version), covered the classroom in toilet paper, and often have paints or play dough out with all sorts of every day objects (cars, marbles, kitchen utensils, combs, etc) to use as the kids choose. There is also never an example, goal, or target project for them to replicate. The kids take the materials and create what they want. Stephanie has come great examples on the school website.

In addition to all the amazing learning that takes place at Bloom, I also find there is a side advantage for me: If the kids spend 3 days a week in wonderfully messy play at school, I feel like I can avoid some of the mess in my own home. Not that my house is clean, I just don't feel so compelled to set out crazy messy projects, like finger painting or glitter, because I know the kids are getting plenty of exposure to that stuff at school. On the other hand, the great disadvantage is that my kids are becoming pretty good at finding unconventional uses for everyday objects. Case and Point:

When the weather is crummy

I have this little book that has become my lifeline when we are having one of THOSE days (due to crummy weather, 2-year-old attitude, or mommy burn out). The Toddler Busy Book is a great resource of quick activities. Some are incredibly simplistic - who doesn't know to bury objects under the sand and have your kid hunt for them - but it reminds me that sometimes simple is best.

Yesterday, we were pushing to get to 4 o'clock, so I could turn on a movie to make it to dinner time, and I randomly ran across the "recipe" for MAGIC MUD:
- Pour a box of cornstarch in a bowl or shallow tray
- Add a bit of water and food coloring
- Mix with your hands and enjoy

I was skeptical, but we gave it a shot....
BEST BAD WEATHER INDOOR ACTIVITY EVER

We started squishing and stirring with our hands. Magic Mud looks solid, but then "melts" through your hands when you try to pick it up.
After 20 minutes of exploration (note that only Sesame Street can hold Owen's attention for 20 minutes), we added some cars and then the farm animals.
An HOUR (yes, an HOUR) later, I was still hearing stories of car crashes and running cows in the kitchen and the scene was like this:
Brilliant! Winner!
I encourage you to try this super easy activity with your own kids.

P.S. We left the magic mud out and Scott was totally enthralled when he got home as well. I was at Safeway this morning buying multiple boxes of cornstarch and Owen had another go at the Magic Mud before lunch today. Brilliant!

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!

A Tomato Story

We are one of the zillion families trying to grow some of our own food this year. But with a dog that destroys our backyard, the tough Central Oregon climate, and a baby in the belly, we decided to start small. My Mother's Day gift was the supplies for a small tomato and herb garden on the front porch. It started with meager beginnings...

But with sporadic watering (with my pint-sized helper), blazing sun, and the addition of some filler flowers, things started to take shape.

It's been a challenge to keep Owen from eating the green tomatoes, but he now points to them and says, "Not yet. No red tomato." But last week, we got our glimpse of red...okay, the tomatoes are still orange, but close enough.

My pint-sized helper got to be the first taster. Considering his rejection of most foods this days, I had no idea how it would go over, but it turns out this kid LOVES home grown tomatoes... who doesn't?

Success!We also started getting tomatoes in our weekly produce box, and Owen ate them faster than I could slice them in half. I told Jim and Jessi that my non-eater loved their tomatoes and they promised extras in our box this week. =)

So far, we've only been tasting the cherry tomatoes (and all the basil, parsley, sage, and cilantro we need), but I've got my eye on this growing Early Girl to put in BLTs or caprese salad... Yum!

Happy Eating!

Let's see those legs!

Spring is here! We had a real heat wave this weekend - the kind where people seem to be emerging from a long hibernation and blinking at the blinding warmth and glow of the sun (or maybe at the blinding whiteness of our hibernating skin!). We got out to watch the earth day Parade, Scott took my dad mountain biking, we at lunch OUTSIDE, worked in the yard, and barbecued dinner - and that was just Saturday!

Today we hit the road for our first spring hike along Paulina Creek. Owen loved seeing the waterfalls and we were surprised by how much snow was still on the banks (how quickly we forget that it snowed 6 days ago!)


We did a little of this:

a little of this:

a lot of this:

and even some of this:
Owen loved "hiking" on his own. He chanted "hiking, hiking" while we were in the car and on the trail. More to come.

Here's a big difference from our pre-child days... That 4 mile hike would have been the bulk of our day 2 years ago. Today, we were waiting on the doorstep for the bagel shop to open at 8AM and home by 11:30. Plenty of time to play outside and do some yard work BEFORE lunch. No chance to use our hiking adventure as an excuse to avoid the pruning, mowing, and raking that our yard was screaming for this afternoon. Scott even hoisted the top off the Jeep and cruised out to snag us DQ Bilzzards for dessert. Now that's a day that to make you ready for summer!

These are the Saturday pictures, but today looked the same - just with shorts and summer croc sandals. Owen did so great playing in the yard while we worked - nothing better than a happy, grimey, tired kid. Bring on the sun!

To Brighten Your Day

We had such a small dusting of snow on Friday morning, it almost wasn't worth it to bundle up to go outside. Let alone try to find exciting things to do once we were outside in 1/8 of an inch of snow. (Can you see the "path" I tried to create in our front lawn??) Thankfully, as we turned to head inside, the big flakes started to fall...




Gotta love the joy 30 seconds of snow will bring!

How to tire out a toddler...

Plan a swim day with your play group. Get bundled up for the drive to the pool. Open the garage door and realize that it's not super cold and actually sunny. Let Owen play outside in the snow for a 1/2 hour while I shovel the driveway. Spend an HOUR AND A HALF in the pool with our friends. (Usually, Owen's teeth are chattering after 45 minutes, but the water was super warm today and we had good company.) Get home and realize this sunny weather might not last - spend ANOTHER half hour outside in the snow before lunch.

Snow - Swim - Snow...
Owen was practically falling asleep while eating his lunch. I'm pretty pooped too, but we're off to the library to see the holiday trains this afternoon.

Snow Days!

We FINALLY have snow pictures!!

Our snow was so late this year, that we finally packed Owen up two weekends ago and drove up to Mt Bachelor to try and find some winter. Even at the ski area, they only had a few inches, but Owen decided he liked the taste of it.


Here are my two guys at the mountain...

On Saturday we got some real snow at our house. Scott had to shovel the driveway for the first time this year, and we discovered that beach toys work in the winter as well. Unfortunately it was SOOO cold, that we could only play outside for a few minutes and the show was too dry to throw snowballs or build a snow man.


We've had snow flurries over the last few days, but today the heavy snow really hit. Our temperatures are back up around 30 degrees, so it's perfect for playing. Owen and I went to the gym this morning (which was surprisingly busy) and then came home to play in the snow before lunch. I worked on shoveling the driveway, and Owen "helped" with his beach shovels. He thought it was so fun to toss snow in the pile or have it fly in his face. He kept laughing and threw a pretty big fit when it was time to come inside. Thankfully, Owen's big thing right now is "helping" take jackets and hats on and off, so being inside was okay once he realized that meant helping take off all our layers and lay the hats and gloves in front of the fire. That and some warm chocolate milk made giving up the snow okay. For now... if it's not crazy cold tomorrow, I'm sure we'll be out again - maybe a snowman next time!

A little deeper today...

It was snowing so hard, that the driveway was already covered again by the time I finished shoveling. The white area behind Owen is where I started shoveling. Needless to say, Scott had to do the driveway a second time when he got home from work.
No snow in this photo, but I just love the close up of a happy kiddo.