MoonSprite's Musings

2011-10-21T19:04:00.000-07:00

2011-10-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

Wonderful thoughts.

2011-10-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

Mom (Lexie's Grammy) is having a skin graft to "fix" a leg injury that happened a couple weekends ago. She seriously ripped a triangle of skin from her leg. That's a whole other story I hope to post soon. Lex and I were on the way home Sunday from an work project when I told her that post surgery, Grammy would have a"device" on her leg that would have to be plugged into the wall to help the healing process of the graft. Lexie's response was..."What!! She's not a T.V.!! they can't just keep her plugged into the wall. She's not cable!"

2011-09-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

Smoke and Mirrors

2011-08-10T20:43:00.000-07:00

Stuff is a great word. Please don't pin that on me... I miss some great George Carlin takes on humanity. I love information and all the technology that brings it to everyone, BUT, back to earlier concepts please. Raise children, crops, and not taxes.

2011-08-10T20:33:00.000-07:00

Now I really am pissed. I tried a couple times to type up some thoughts (on my MAC) into my old, aged blog, and I think the lack of compatibility did not work in my favor... I should not try to post from here. I'm not MAC smart enough. Suffice it to say/type that I had some pissy thoughts on humanity, tried to convey them via my blog and MAC did not support. damn you steve jobs and your great set of working well stuff. If this post works then I don't know. OK then.

2011-08-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

So what

Wow.

2010-02-07T09:09:00.001-08:00

My daughter is talking to squirrels right now. It's pretty amazing.

Weekend fun

2010-02-07T02:13:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Lexie attended a birthday tea party. Each birthday party guest was instructed to bring a doll or stuffed animal to attend the mini-tea party. Lexie had a great time. After we got home (Lexie walked while I drove beside her, reminded me a little of Rocky in training) Sam came over to visit. We were going to play Wii, but the controllers were out of batteries. I happened to spot the beading kit my neighbor Joanie gave me. The girls had some fun putting together some earrings and bracelets. I now am sporting a pair of really cute earrings that my very own seven year old daughter made for me. As a result, we may go back to the mall today to get her ears re-pierced. Maybe this time she will take better care of them, and I will keep closer watch on them.

Lexie quote of the day...

2010-02-06T17:53:00.001-08:00

"I am not a minion!"

Talking to caregivers

2010-02-04T12:14:00.000-08:00

Decent weekend. Highlight was watching classic B movie "Pod People" via MST3K. Lex tried to keep up with the sarcastic commentary for a while even.

Lex met a new friend Saturday night. One house down from John's lives an 8 year old girl named Brianna. When Brianna went to walk the family dog (Gizmo), her and Lexie met up and hit it off. The next day Lex was impatient to go out and play with her again. John, Lex and I went to the mini-field up the block and practiced some softball. On the way back to the house, Brianna came out to let Gizmo relieve himself. None of us noticed that she was in her pajamas. This fact might have led us to realize that she wasn't out and ready to play, but we missed it. The four of us headed back to the play area and they played more ball. Eventually Brianna's mom came out of the house calling her. Ooops. She got in a bit of trouble for going out to play without notifying her mom. She wrote Lex a really sweet note apologizing for not being able to come back out and play.

Drama world: It seems as though Alexis and Emma (friend from "Y") have been looking for some adventure. About a week ago, Lexie asked me to write down what the clock looked like when it was midnight. I thought this a semi-strange request, so I filed the thought for later. She copied my 12:00AM. onto her own piece of paper and went back to playing. Next she is drawing maps from Y camp to Emma's house. Then Sunday night she puts an envelope on the kitchen table and tells me not to open it until the morning. I forget about the envelope, and in the morning Lex put's it in the garbage and tells me she did it wrong and she's going to re-do it. Last night, she puts another envelope next to my purse on the hall table, and tells me, again, not to open it until morning. At that point, something maternally instinctual kicked in. I opened the trash and pulled out Sunday night's envelope. "I am gon Mom. PS I wont come home." After slight heart failure, I grabbed the other envelope and went into her room. After asking her what this was all about, and opening the second envelope in front of her, much drama ensued. Tears shed, hugs given, she swears it is a game her and Emma were playing, I talked on the phone with Emma's mom. Phew, not liking that one bit. Emma's mom and I agreed to mention it to the teachers at the Y for backup support. Eeeeks.

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true...

2010-01-28T19:30:00.001-08:00

Lex is having a blast with this new season of Girl Scout Daisies. This troop is bigger than the last, and she is in at the upper end of the ages. She feels more confident this time around. She had her first meeting last Monday, and didn't want it to end. Of course....she enjoyed the activities, but would rather have just played the whole time. Grammy spruced up her vest and added the new patches from last year. I'm just as excited as her.

Last weekend we had a great time. Started off Friday night with John teaching Lex how to play farkle, with real dice and a dice cup. Next, an attempt at Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with Lex falling asleep at some point (we still haven't tried to watch it again....yet). Next morning, breakfast in bed a'la McD's, while watching MIBII. John drove Lexie up to Washington house, I followed in about 45 minutes. We spent a wonderful day traveling to, from, at at Maryhill Stonehenge. At dinner in Lyle.

I signed Lexie up for Softball in the Spring. She really wants to do it.

My little Runaway..

2010-01-13T12:24:00.001-08:00

For Christmas Lexie got tons of stuff she loves, including an art set and a new DSI.

She is doing so fabulous in school! She loves math and is learning to read so well, it's wonderful.

Lex caught a 24 hour stomach virus over New Years, but still managed to enjoy herself to the hilt, including having snowball fights with Jason and John, and a big old wrestling match.

She is excited about signing up for little league this spring.

And....She got mad at me Sunday for not paying enough attention to her, so she ran away from home. Her and her friend, Sam, packed a few things in backpacks, she gabbed her purse, and they headed up the street for a friends house she's only been to once. Sam's mom found out about the plan in minutes and was over at my house. We walked out of the court and around the corner. There the two were, marching back home. Lex walked past me without making eye contact. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing. I said, "I guess I know where you're headed." She went into the house, dropped her backpack in her bed room and climbed into my bed. We had a nice talk about how scary and dangerous that was. She was in tears, already beat tired from playing all day. She fell asleep immediately. She is still feeling super bad about it.

Mini updates

2009-11-09T13:50:00.001-08:00

Favorite quote for October on Halloween, post trick or treating: Lexie- "By my calculations, we should have enough candy to last all week."

We had the best trick or treat ever! I didn't take very good pics, just used my phone.

My birthday weekend was Super Great! Saturday we all went to Spaghetti Factory, then John, Lex and I watched The Dark Knight. Sunday we went to the zoo after breakfast and a trip to the Dollar Tree.

--
Iechyd da!

First 1st grade parent teacher conference.

2009-10-15T20:50:00.001-07:00

Heads up/note to self/advice to other parents... If you want a decent amount of time with your parent teacher conference, schedule it early in the day. They work like doctors offices, I know the rules. The first few meetings run over, and exponentially later, the later meetings are rushed. Uck. Still, it was a good experience for two reasons. The first was that Teacher assures that Lex is doing wonderful. Second, because Tall Handsome Dad drove a decent distance to be a part of it. Lex really appreciated it, so did I. I was mucho embarassed that I instructed John to call when he got there, realized 10 minutes into it that my phone was turned all the way down, then when I explained to Teacher, she was so rushed, she told me not to go get him, it would be over before I could, we could all meet later. I didn't explain to her how far he drove to be there, but I did tell her a few times how I wasn't fond of how rushed it all felt.

Greatest Day Ever!

2009-10-10T17:54:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I wake up with a cold. So what! We made plans, sort of, last night to find a stretch of dirt to play marbles on....Lex want's to learn.

Post 7:30 I wake up and head out to facebook, and what not. 8:30 Lex is on me like white on rice to get a move on.... Some time later, John is eating breakfast at Denny's and texting us this very fact (oooh, I forgot to mention Lex and McBreakfasted about an hour earlier...) John shows up, we go to Freddy's (Griff gets to go too!) and get three wiffle balls for Lex and a crazy ball for Griff. Super Dad takes us to Brookwood Elementary where we spend a splendiforous amount of time playing baseball, or sort of. Then John goes to get beverages while Lex and I play marbles on the home plate dirt. Mmmmm! Frozen coffee beverage! Lex gets orange frozen drink! Super Dad drives home and the three (or four or more if you count the animals) watch the first Harry Potter movie for the first time! Lex is still putting spells on everything! I am still in awe of what a day can be! LOVE life!

--
Iechyd da!

Dinner for three

2009-10-08T22:03:00.001-07:00

John brought dinner over tonight, and the three of us ate, not at the table, because there is no "table" in this house. But we ate together. It was very nice, very nice. We laughed about our creepy, but funny, psycho rat toy. and just chilled. It was a wonderful feeling for me, and obviously for Lex. He is her Dad now, I know it because she keeps saying so without anyone asking her to. Dad put her to bed, it was so right and sweet, I had to leave the room to not cry. Thank goodness my mom called to inquire about recent reports of swine flu at Lexie's school. eeechhh. So tired of flu.

Iechyd da!

Lex can read!

2009-10-08T21:53:00.001-07:00

The morning homework has been so GREAT, I can't even think of many more adjectives to describe it. She is learning to read, wait! She is reading, it's wonderfu!. After school and daycare, she is so resistant to "doing more" school work. So... I get up at 5:43 am (every frickin morning), pull the covers off the bed so she won't snuggle back up, throw the covers and blankets onto the rocking chair in the corner of the room., and on to next step. I place her backpack on the bed with my pick of clothes for the day. No saying if she'll go along with my choice or not. Then I get two dollar bills for lunch money and a Chocolate Brownie Cliff Bar and put them on her backpack. I pick her homework out of her backpack and arrange it on the bed. I get her favorite homework pen, place it on her homework and go outside to play on the computer and wait until she wakes up. I go back in in 15 minutes, and she's discovered there's no blankets and is squirming around. I kiss her forehead, and she says, "I have to go to the bathroom." I get my own self dressed and ready, and when I'm done, she's awake. Giggly morning girl. There is no order to the rest of the morning. She does her math with her favorite pen. I come in and check her work and sign off on it. We banter about everything. She feeds her two fish. She puts her clothes on....slowly while watching morning show on Discovery Kids, and I come in and check on her every 5-10 minutes. She practices for her Friday spelling test, I sit on the bed with her and we read her reading assignment, well, she reads it anyway. We go through the words she's learning on flash cards, and then she just giggles, giggles, giggles! By now she's mostly dressed, put the two dollars in her pocket (gets upset with me when I pick an outfit without pockets!), put her snack in her backpack, put her jacket, socks, and shoes on. Then she washes her face and takes her vitamins after much protest. Brushes her own hair. It's Euphoric!

Spider Girl

2009-09-22T12:05:00.001-07:00

Lexie has decided that she is half human and half jumping spider. Where she got the idea, I'm not really sure. This morning, after we finished her four homework questions, she was sitting with me and telling me that there was a "fellow" jumping spider in the library yesterday. She related their conversation, then thought about it and said, "Actually, I couldn't talk with him, because I'm half human."

Saturday, Lex and I went bowling with John, Shannon and Bill. She's starting to enjoy it pretty much.

First Grade

2009-09-12T05:39:00.001-07:00

I'm upset with myself for not keeping up with this sprite blog. I have a new resolution to do better at it. Lex started first grade last Tuesday. She loves it, but she comes home so tired from the extra hours.

Almost exactly at the same time, both Lex and John thought up the idea of a webcast for Lex. Unfortunately, they picked me as the camera girl, so while I've got some great stuff, it's not edited, and I've been lazy enough to not upload it anywhere. I'll get on that too.

Lex's latest antic is to try to get Munkee, our one year old adoptee cat, into the shower. She actually having some success. Oh, I remember the days when I tried to get my cats into the bath/shower with me at a younger age. It seems so much more difficult to supervise as a parent! I remember the excitement of the project at a young age, but I'm pretty sure I was more clandestine at it than Lex is. I believe I wanted to keep it a secret from my Mom, but she actually wants my help... and I'm not sure why, but I try. Munkee is her cat as much as mine, but she has some power over him that I'm baffled by. He'll let her take him into the shower without so much as scrathing her, let alone tearing her to pieces. He just comes back out and licks himself dry. Rather stoic cat.

There is so much else that's been going on, I'll have to work on putting it all into this diary/blog.
--
Iechyd da!

more pics

2009-06-11T08:31:00.001-07:00

Mini Update

2009-06-11T08:16:00.000-07:00

Lex got her first bee sting last week. Middle finger left hand. When asked if it hurt, she said it did a little at first. I'm such a baby. I remember mine hurting like crazy.

Lex "graduates" from kindergarten next week. She's pretty excited.

Her latest "thing" is the Nintendo DS [our Wii is broken :( ]. She has six different games already. They range from taking care of pets, adventure games, and her latest is a fashion plate game. She loves it.

Life is a highway, eh?

2009-05-28T14:39:00.001-07:00

Rules of life as discovered on the highway: In the fast lane doing 60, I'm supposed to be in the right lane, eventually, for my exit, but I feel it's moving too slow. I figure that by the time I get up past the Pepsi truck up about 30 cars, I'll still be enough back from the tunnel to change lanes. Goal setting. I approach the truck minutes later, move into the center lane, then into the right lane just in front of the truck. As my head revolves back around from checking my mirrors to change lanes...nine cars up, another Pepsi truck. As I'm laughing at myself, I spot one log truck heading East bound, another log truck West bound. Figure out that riddle.

Lexie Speaks! (a little)

2009-05-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

I ask Lex if she wants to do another "Lexie Speaks," and she yells, "Yes!" Then, Lexie runs into the room, “guess what! I was playing with the cat and the string, and you know what the cat’s name is? It’s Munkee, and he’s arriving, and that’s all for the day.” As Lex giggles like crazy and runs outta de room with Munkee chasing her and a long piece of yarn. She's still giggling, It's the best!

Lexie Foos

2009-05-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

"Well, I wanna show everyone a picture, but I have a couple words to say. Are you writing every word I say? (mom, yes) Come on, come on all my friends. everyone I know you all think I'm going to make words for you today, but I'm not actually write words to you, I'm going to show you a picture."

Back to Mom. Lexie wants to go to Hollywood. Why you ask? Because it's a cool place and according to Lex there are pop stars there and she now, just this moment, would rather go to Hawaii.

Now we're going to find a picture of something on Google. BRB

Lexie Speaks!

2009-05-08T21:07:00.001-07:00

"Everyone: Names family. The bestest things in the world are the greatest things. Like candy and toys and puppies. What can you do without them? They're the cutest things in the world. Also candy is sweet. Do you remember our Halloween? I hope you had a great time on Halloween, when it was Halloween a long time ago. And Santa gives you toys. So give him a thank-you on the next Christmas when he comes. Give him a cookie. Try to see Santa. If you give him a bite of cookie and he's gone and you didn't see him, that's ok. He will still like you. Also he gives you swimming pools, toys, lots of stuff. Friends are friends. If you have a friend, and go up and meet him and you see someone talking please don't interrupt. Because they're trying to say something to somebody. And that's all for Lexie's speech. Bye. See you later."

Lexie Speaks!

2009-05-07T21:50:00.001-07:00

“Did everyone like this day? I know it was kinda rainy outside. But, at the end of the day it got a little sunnier. Today was a strange day for me. Well what happened today was I got picked up by Grammy and I had to go to this school that will help me read better. And it was some guy telling me what to do. And I almost got them all right, but I did a really good job. I earned the prize to keep. It was a little parachute guy, but then I didn’t want the parachute so I took it off. Good bye.”

Lexie Speaks!

2009-05-06T20:34:00.001-07:00

World, it's summer today, so you should be going to fun places. You could go to a swimming pool, you could play outside. You could even play outside with your friends. Think of anything you can do on these lovely days. Oh guess what, my Grammy told me today that it will be raining tomorrow, but sunny all weekend. I'm hating the rain. That's all, bye, see ya later.

Lexie Speaks!

2009-05-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

Everyone in the whole world: Did you think of your plans yet, because I'll be here to see what your plans are today? I'll be here to read your plans and well, just be happy if you did all the things. I want to do something. Guess what. Today was fiesta day. For the whole weekend, celebrate the fiesta, and see what your parents say about the fiesta. Bye, see you later, have a great weekend of fiesta. (Mom says, "but it's not the weekend yet.) But when it is the weekend, the greatest in the world, you celebrate the people in the world. What happened to me today, I um, Mom, what is that thing called? (we go out into the living room, hook arms and spin around) Square Dancing! So if you know the square dance, then tell me what you think of the square dance. Telling the world. Could you please stop writing everything I say. Ha ha giggle giggle. I'm serious!

Junior Ranger

2009-05-04T10:15:00.001-07:00

Lexie is now a junior ranger of the National Parks Service! The weekend before last, John took us to a National Park Family Day at Ft. Vancouver. We had a great time, Lexie especially. At the beginning of the event was an information booth where Lexie learned her 'mission.' To become a Junior Ranger she needed to go to at least five different booths to collect stamps. She colored a bear, panned for gold, visited with an owl and a turkey vulture, made a 'sea biscuit', touched a beavers tail (at which point she asked the ranger why they took it off the beaver!), made a paper bat, and looked at a vast and sundry assortment of park-ish stuff, all while learning about Northwest parks. At the end she had earned a Junior Ranger patch, pin, and signed and dated certificate with her name on it. Another fabulous weekend!

Junior Ranger

2009-05-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

Lexie Speaks!

2009-05-03T20:33:00.001-07:00

Every one is charms of joy, everyone is a big hug. Share. All the chipmunks and squirrels that need homes, come back to this dot-com and tell us what you have done to help the world. And it's the bestest thing to do when you help an animal. So go right to this dot.com and tell all the things you have done to help the world. It's the greatest thing! Bye! See you later!

Thanks JDK

2009-05-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

Thank you John, Sweetie! You have always been my best friend and I will always treasure you. Lexie thinks the world of you and we will be yours forever! Lexie sends love and "when can we go do something again!" as she begrudgingly lays her head down for the night. Love!

Lexie Speaks!

2009-05-02T20:18:00.000-07:00

Lex and I decided to try something new. We were sitting out on the back deck, her swinging in her favorite hammock swing, me sitting in a camping chair. I asked her, "If you wanted to say something to the world tonight, what would it be?" Her answer is this, "I'm a little girl, I want my mom to get married, I have superpowers but I don't tell anybody about them. And I have the bestest friends in the world. I went to Seattle, in a hotel. And I went with my new friend Jason, and that's all."

Blog promises

2009-05-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting this blog so much lately, I've wondered if the inertia would lead to the end of it. But no! I won't laze out and let it gather too many cobwebs. I have pictures and news. Lexie is doing better than ever! And so am I! We've been having a blast, and love of weekends has taken on a whole new meaning! For the last few weeks, I've been using my break-time at work to walk and listen to a fabulous book (Outliers Rocks!). Starting this next week, I'll make a serious effort to update this blog on one of my breaks. "Life is good," is and understatement. Right now, Lex is lounging and resting while re-watching The Incredibles. We got home from a wonderful trip to the beach. I'll try to parse out some of the last few weeks in the next few blogs.

2009-04-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

Probably a video only a mother could love, but since the blog is dedicated to roller sprite... I happen to get softy towards the end when she waves at another little girl. Then she waves at Lucas, who is falling down under the camera I'm shooting the video with. She throws the thumbs up sign and rolls on.

2009-03-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

Lexie couldn't get enough of the fact that we were going to take the train (Max) to the train.

Lexie crawls into one of the African Village exhibits at the zoo.

2009-03-25T13:19:00.000-07:00

I have no idea where they came up with the pose. There was no direction going on by the moms.
I'm looking forward to getting Lexie's pictures developed.

Her Grammy bought her a disposable for the trip. I can't find her little cheapy Barbie digital she had a couple years ago.

2009-03-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

I like the Giraffe exhibit better than Oregon also.
Giraffe!

2009-03-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

A slpash of color, this guy was still hard to find.

2009-03-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

The homies chillin'

Here's grandma. She has a reputation for this face. I have a video of her that a little amusing too.

2009-03-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

A beautiful Bald Eagle...
And his ginormous nest! The zoo keeps them until they are rehabilitated from whatever ails them, and then releases them.

2009-03-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

A Wallaroo...

And a Wallaby on the move.

2009-03-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

This zoo has the best habitats of any I've seen. I love how natural they look and how much space there is.
This would have been a better shot if the sun was out, but oh well...
There are even Salmon in the water! The display says that the depth of the pool makes it more challenging for the bears to catch the fish, and most times they have to work as a team.

2009-03-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

Beautiful cat!
I just love this zoo!

2009-03-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

Lexie practices the art of camouflage.

2009-03-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

Flamingos...

Sneaky duck getting into the flamingo soup...hmm...

2009-03-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

It's extremely difficult to get a decent shot of the city from the deck of the Space needle, especially at night. No tri-pod or even a spot to put the camera down, plenty of wind, obstacles, etc.

So these were the best I could do.
Bathroom sign at the Sci-fi museum.

2009-03-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Seattle Skyline from the harbor tour. On Saturday, we walked from the train station on the far left to the Space Needle.
We got to sit in the front of the monorail each time. The train gets up to 40 mph. It's quite fun!
Taking a corner on the monorail.
The side of the sci-fi/music museum.

clam, black tipped shark, and Lex and Jason at the Seattle Police Museum

2009-03-25T12:37:00.001-07:00

New ears

2009-03-16T11:49:00.001-07:00

Little angel gets earrings.

2009-03-16T11:47:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was great! Tracy and Sierra met us at Cedar Hills Crossing to go to Claire's. Lex got her ears pierced. She was such a little trooper. Didn't even flinch.

This morning in the car on the way to daycare Lexie gave me the lowdown on Leprechauns. She informed me that if you catch one you get to make one wish. She then let me know that if she catches one, her wish is going to be that she can read. Gotta love her!

Crazy sadness

2009-03-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

Tiki, 15 1/2 year old magnificent cat is on to a better place. Lex visits his grave site every day, and generally takes the whole ordeal with much more stride than I do. I'm pretty sure the first time I had a animal companion loss was when I was in junior high. She is so much more resiliant.

Today Lex and I are dealing with two under the age of four, over 80 pound, dogs...who love to pummel each other. Our dog, Griffen, and Corky's, Chance. We're boarding her for a couple days while they go do the camping thing. Payback is that Next weekend-into-the-week, they will watch Griff while Lex and I Amtrak up to Seattle with Carrie and Jason.

It's a brilliantly NorthWest typical day, and we are enjoying the obligation to vegetate in non-public attire so as to appreciate lounging around. Lex is sprouting a cold, again. Thanks be to Jah that she handles them so well. I have been feeling remiss that I haven't blogged in a while and then came about a friends blog I hadn't realized existed. Before beginning my parusal, I decided to make a mediocare entry in this tribute.

Mareseatoatanddoeseatoatsandlittlelambseativeyouwouldeativytoowouldntyou.

Highlights of Newport

2009-01-30T16:40:00.000-08:00

The scuba diver from the show was nice enough to poss with Lexie after the show at the underseas gardens.

Lexie at the beginning of the wax museum

Lexie and Johnny Depp??

Eeeeeee...

Inauguration and Investiture!

2009-01-21T15:00:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Barack Obama was inaugurated at the 44th president! Lexie watched the inauguration in Mrs. Jenkins kindergarten class. She was pretty excited about it when I picked her up. She wants to remember it to tell people when she grows up. We talked about the huge bow on Aretha Franklin's head. She talked about the thousands of people with their tiny flags.

Tonight is Lexie's Girl Scout Daisy Investiture. We're are all so excited! I'm going to try to videotape and photograph. "On my honor, I will try, to serve God and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girlscout Law."

We need to work on Lexie's sleep habits again. We got so good for a while, but now she is getting tired at school again. Got a call from teacher letting me know it's been happening again. Poor girl just doesn't like going to sleep.

Some of Lexie's Daisy troop at the Satruday bowling.

2009-01-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

penguin pajama day

2009-01-13T08:56:00.001-08:00

I love the second Friday of the month! One of my biggest joys is being room mom in Lexie's kindergarten class. I sometimes get to do prep work for projects like tracing out giant mittens on colored construction paper or going down to the supply room and using the cutter to make 8"X 8" dark blue and 9"X9" white squares for a snowflake project. I love hovering over the tables as they work on their work and answering questions and helping them out. Last Friday was pajama day. It was great at recess to watch four kindergarten classes of children running around the playground in pajamas.

This Friday is Maxwell's birthday party. Lexie is pretty excited. We are going Pokemon shopping later this week.

It looks like we may be having a Daisy Scout bowling this Saturday too. That will be fun. Lexie Daisy group finally got a troop number this week. We've been waiting long enough, jeez. They've earned two "petals" and their investiture ceremony will be at Shute Park library a week from tomorrow. Gotta remember to charge the video camera batteries. Scouts started selling girl scout cookies last Saturday. As of this morning, she's sold 43 boxes! Her goal is 50, I hope she makes it.

Tons of presents

2009-01-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

Largest birthday party.

2009-01-05T12:59:00.000-08:00

13 kids! Whew.

Losing Ms. Amy

2009-01-05T12:55:00.000-08:00

Girls night out at the melting pot. What a blast. From left to right; Tonya, Kim, Me, and Amy.

2009-01-05T12:53:00.000-08:00

Lexie's superbig birthday surprise.

Tiki is also taking over the house.

We already broke the stairway banister. Time to find the hot glue.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

A sign of Tiki's advanced years. He didn't mind taking a little nap with Griffen.

Some of my favorite creatures.

Our "living" tree. Last minute decision. Can't wait to see how much it grows before next year.

Lexie "Wii" Keller. I love Endless Ocean and we both love Super Mario Party 8 and Meet the Robinsons.

Snow fun

2009-01-05T12:43:00.000-08:00

Sonja brings me out some coffee. She is my neighbor, my friend, and Lexies' best friends mother.

Flying dog. My cats don't appreciate the snow much, but Griffen sure does.

Losing Ms. Amy

2008-12-09T11:37:00.001-08:00

Friday night was a blast! Amy, Kim, Tonya and I went to the Melting Pot downtown. Ohhh it was wonderful. We were there from 7:30pm until sometime after 11:00pm. My favorites were the cheese fondue and the cookies and cream fondue. Even the house salad was terrific, and the company was the best. We laughed so hard tears rolled down my face. When I told Lexie where I had been, and with whom, she actually got a little jealous mad. I have pictures of that to post as well.

Birthday Party

2008-12-09T10:24:00.001-08:00

Lexie's birthday party was a blast! she had 13 kids there! Some from pre-school, some from day care, some from kindergarten, some neighbors some from my work, and Lucas. It was so much fun! She got a lot of Polly Pocket stuff, which is perfect. Her reaction to her big present was perfect. I'll post pictures soon. Lucas spent the night, and the next day we all went out for Brunch at Reedville Cafe.

Lexie's investiture into Daisy Girl Scout is next Monday. I'm going to try to take video as well as pictures. Last night I went to a Girl Scout Council meeting with her troop leader, Michelle, to learn about cookie sales. We're excited about that too.

Christmas Teeth

2008-12-02T10:44:00.001-08:00

Now Lexie can sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." She lost her second bottom front tooth Saturday. I actually pulled it out, eeeeeewwweee! The first one came out when we were wrestle fighting. I elbowed it out. I felt awful, but she was just laughing!

Lexie loves her Daisy Girl Scouts soooo much. She got her vest on Sunday, slept in it and wore it all the next day, her birthday. Grammy came over in the morning to watch her, her normal Grammy-Lexie day fell on her birthday. We woke her up in the morning with a cupcake and the birthday song. Grammy took her shopping and she got two new pairs of shoes, an outfit, and a doll. She kept telling me all evening that she had the best day. She had her third girl scout meeting last night. We made Christmas decorations to give to the elderly when we go caroling at a retirement home in the next couple weeks.

We're looking forward to her b-day party this weekend.

Lexie's first dance

2008-11-14T15:46:00.001-08:00

Raise your hand if you've ever played the raise your hand game!

2008-11-14T15:40:00.000-08:00

Lexie's new game, "Raise your hand if you like chocolate", raise your hand if you don't like chocolate, raise your hand if you have a cat.... it's cute, to a point.

Have some cake!

For Myra's birthday today, Val made sponge cake... literally! She smoothed chocolate frosting all over a foam sponge. We watched many people hassle with that thing!

School pictures

2008-11-03T12:54:00.001-08:00

Lexie got her very first Kindergarten school pictures. Here it is...

Tinker Bell

2008-11-03T12:52:00.000-08:00

And she flies too!

Lexie was Tinker Bell for Halloween and it was a hit!

No dance card?

2008-10-31T10:51:00.001-07:00

Well, she finally did it. I was beginning to think I was going to be one of the few LuckyMoms who have children who don't "trim" their own hair. Not! Last weekend, Lexie decided she wanted bangs. She walked into the room, and my jaw dropped. She actually didn't do too bad, but I still had Grammy take her in for a straightening. Amazingly, she did this AFTER her school pictures! Phew! I'll post her school pictures and then compare with the post kid-with-scissors.

Today is Halloween. Lexie's school doesn't allow costumes, but she will get to put hers on in about an hour, after school at YCamp. She is Tinker bell. This evening we are going trick-or-treating with her friends Sam and Alex at a local mall. Should be fun.

Tomorrow, Lexie's Grammy is coming down to stay the night with Lexie. I will be attending a party, that I go to only very reluctantly. I'm not much of a party person. This started out being five people, Cherri, Ryan, Hollie, and Josh. It has added a bunch of people, NOT happy. I tried very hard to cancel, but was essentially guilted back into it. Since I'm bringing the RV, if I decide to pout, at least I have a good place to do it.

And now, the story behind the title of this blog. When I went to pick Lexie up yesterday, she complained and was sad because we would miss the "sample" dance class. I had not heard anything about this, but they are going to give dance lessons Thursdays at 5:00 at the gym there. So, we stayed so she could try it out. She loves to dance and has been excited for quite awhile about dance classes, and then this dropped in our lap! Should have been perfect, but there is one ginormous hitch! In Lexie's mind, dance class entails turning music on and everyone just dancing. Very early on into the stretching warm-up, she became unenthusiastic. She wasn't impressed by learning moves and putting them together. She was so put off by the end of the class, that not only wasn't going to join, but she specifically wanted to put the flyer they handed out in a hiding place where it wold never be found again. Strike two for organized, structured instruction on how to learn something. Maybe if I pick her up a little later and she sees the other kids having a good time with it, she might change her mind. I think there were too many children there and if the classes are smaller and she gets more one-on-one attention, she might enjoy it. We shall see.

We are starting Daisy Girl Scouts next Monday! First and third Mondays, I'm excited.

Name Club

2008-10-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

It's been so crazy, I tend to let the blog ride. I really should discipline myself to do a daily not at break time.

Yesterday, Lexie got into the "Name Club" at her kindergarten! I am so proud of her, and she is too. That means that she can print her name clearly. They teach print WAY differently then I remember. They put little curly tails on the letters to get them ready to learn cursive. Pretty cute.

Tonight is McTeacher night. I'm not positive, but I believe that means that the school teachers will be working at the local McDonalds to raise money. I think Lex and I will go take a peak.

Her first tooth is coming in nice, and she's got another loose one.

Fishing!

2008-09-29T11:51:00.001-07:00

A spontaneous fishing trip occurred this weekend. Friday, Tracy called and invited Lexie and I to join them at Horning's Hideout for a fishing trip with Cub Scout troop 819. It's a stocked fishing lake. We had a blast. Lexie's been fishing in Alaska, but that was quite a while ago. We rented her a pole (.50!) and away we went. She caught for trout! She was so exited. Happy and scared at the same time. Each time we would reel one in on her pole, she would start screaming. They actually have RV camping there also. We are definitely going back!

Missing tooth!

2008-09-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

Cool peacocks EVERYWHERE!

2008-09-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

Lexie and Luca with their catches

2008-09-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

What a pleasant day!

2008-09-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

All I want for Christmas

2008-09-25T12:21:00.001-07:00

Lexie lost her first tooth! One of the bottom front teeth. She got a five dollar bill folded into a bow tie from the tooth fairy.

Lex is really enjoying school and Y Camp. Today we took in a large box of her old toys that Lex and Grammy packed up earlier this year, and took it to the Y. We had our first open house last week. I really like her school, and her teacher. Looks like I'll get to be a parent helper the second Friday of each month starting in November. I'm pretty excited about it. Yesterday when I picked Lexie up she told me that a gril said Lexie's necklace wasn't pretty, said her pet rock (class project) was ugly, and when Lexie tried to talk to her, the girl stuck her fingers in her ears and sang, na-na-na-na-na-na. Mother instinct kicked in and when she pointed the girl out to me...I actually glared at her! Then I thought, "get a grip Rachel!" I told Lex that her opinion didn't really matter, and if she does it again, just walk away. Lex wasn't really upset about it, but it is the first time she's complained to me about a conflict she has with a peer.

Mondays are still Grammy days. Grammy comes over early in the morning, takes Lexie to school and picks her up. Last Monday after school they went back up to Yamhill for the afternoon. What a treat!

Camping cold

2008-09-16T08:57:00.001-07:00

I got a cold last Wednesday night, one day before our camping trip. The whole weekend I pretty much forgot I even had the cold, but the moment we got back home it's been worse. I want to go back to the fresh air some more!

Lexie had a great time! She met new friends the first night. We relaxed while she played, swam, had fun. The weather was terrific. It was a great trip, but too short.

First day of Kindergarden!!!

2008-09-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

This is the bouquet my PTC team gave me for being captain!

2008-09-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

Beautiful!

Time flies...

2008-08-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how busy it's been! And how long it's taken me to blog. The Portland to Coast went great! I just got a glorious bouquet of flowers from my team thanking me for being the captain. I want to take a picture and post it. I didn't bring my camera this time, so I'm waiting for some teammates to get me some pictures.

Lexie starts kindergarten next Thursday! She and I will be meeting with her teacher next Wednesday. I'm so excited!

And....Lexie has her first loose tooth!

I love my iTouch! I use it as a mini-laptop, I used it for the relay as a stop watch. It's great!

Dad has had some pretty close calls this last week. He had angioplasty last Saturday and a stent where his artery was 99% occluded. Scary, but glad it got caught when it did.

More later...

Casual morning.

2008-08-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

Relatives gather around the pool.

The Ramada

2008-08-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

Lexie and Grammy are at the umbrella table at the pool

The view from the hotes balcony

A gigantic house/mansion. Look at the previous picture. This is the house up on the top right of the hills

Lexie on the way to the pool.

Poolside

2008-08-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

Cousin Scott

2008-08-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

Cousin David

2008-08-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

Cousin Skylar

2008-08-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

Lexie and Uncle

2008-08-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

Lexie is always proud to anounce to everyone she comes across that her uncle Fred is from Alaska.

And they dance.

Lexie and Uncles

2008-08-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

Dancing with Mark

Out in the yard with Steve

Always in motion.

On the dance floor

2008-08-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

Actually...off the dance floor. All the world is her trampoline.

Happy Siblings.

2008-08-06T12:27:00.000-07:00

Feet reunion

2008-08-06T12:26:00.000-07:00

Sorensen feet.

Family reunioun

2008-08-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

Lexie's Grammy and Great Aunts and Uncles. Steve, Mark, Fred, Grammy, Susie, Christine.

Cutie Pie

2008-08-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

Lexie at the wedding

2008-08-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

Resting on the table before the ceremony.

Picking up petals to throw at the groom and bride

2008-08-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

Lexie Loves a good trampoline!
The great flying Lexie!

Relaxing...

2008-08-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

Relaxing by the pool

The only time Lexie isn't moving at the speed of light

Scott, Chris, Fred, and David

West Coast meets East Coast. Mark and Darcy from Southern California, Steve and Sally from New Jersey.

Lexie the Archeologist

2008-08-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

The dig site

2008-08-06T09:33:00.000-07:00

Hard at work

Starting to uncover something...

Almost...