Sunday, August 24, 2008

World's strangest Stitch and Pitch

Today was the Portland Beaver's Stitch and Pitch, where folks come to knit or crochet, and enjoy themselves some baseball. I was suppose to get there around 12:45 to set up the booth to collect any caps folks had created for cancer patients. Well, I was late, there wasn't anyone at any table, and I didn't have Alison (my contact for the Beavers) phone number. Let's just say that LOTS of learning about how to set up a Stitch and Pitch happened this year. I even walked the stands, seeing if I could find a bunch of folks knitting up a storm. No go. But I enjoyed the game, and when I got home I put together my 'heck, don't do this next year', and a long list titled, 'oh yeah, better do that next year'. That is IF the Beavers will let us give it another go. We didn't come up with very good guidelines for the actual event. Live and learn.

While I was there, trying to figure out where the knitters could be gathering, I saw some 'interesting folks'. Notice anyone in particular? Someone that might stand out in a crowd?

Yep, one of the folks I spied being a giant ole yellow pencil. The good old fashioned kind, like when I was in grade school. He threw out the first pitch (doing pretty well for a big ole yellow pencil), was there to promote collecting school supplies for kids in the area, and was a hit with the kids in the crowd.

Happy Birthday Bear! And GO TIGARD!!

Saturday was a busy one at our house. I went to a birthday bash for my friend Bear: she finally joined the '50' club. Welcome aboard girlfriend! It's worth the wait, trust me.

Since Bear likes tie-dye, we were all asked to wear tie-dye. Very interesting mix of colors I must say. And lots of good food included.


Including three cakes!!! My favorite was home made, I believe by Bear's nephew. Look at the great job he did on his volcano cake. And let me just say, it tasted very good.

His cake, along with two Costco cakes, provided lots of heat, and lots of desert.

The birthday girl had a fun time. Can you tell?

Mark was busy with football. The 'Tigard Bowl' was that evening, and Mark had to be there early to prepare.

The weather was perfect, lots of folks came to watch, and Tigard looked good. It was a lot of fun.

I video taped the three games (freshman, JV, and varsity) for the team. Interesting. Hard to keep track of everything in the small lens.

The coaches convened after the big event, with lots of learning going on. Go Tigard!!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Squirrels and Cupcakes: who'd have thought?

It was HOT yesterday. How hot?

One of Deacon's friends is a squirrel that hangs around the backyard. He (could be a she, but I'm guessing it's a guy) loves teasing Deacon, and will actually bark until we let Deacon out. Then he runs around and around the tree as Deacon barks back. Cracks us up!

Well, we look outside and there he is, rooting around in the dirt, where it's nice and cool. Rolling and hanging out. He'd watch us watching him, but he didn't seem too worried. He was cool and that's all that mattered.


I hung out all day, cooking and organizing my cookbooks and going through some recipes I've cut out of magazines. I cooked up some pulled chicken sandwiches that everyone seemed to like, myself included. Then I baked some blueberry lemon cupcakes, from 'Cooking Light' magazine, and they were so darn good! Mark LOVED them!

My goal is to come up with two weeks worth of weight watcher friendly recipes. Easy ones. Good ones. I like to eat, so might as well make it easy for myself. So far the latest group of recipes I've tried have been hits. Works for me.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Picnics ROCK!

Yesterday I went to our work picnic with my friend Kseniya and her three kids. We had a blast! They had a lot to do for the kids and adults. There was never a lack of things to do, see, and eat. The kids were always looking for the next thing to do and they had a great time.

The theme was Hawaiian and the band and dancers were so fun to watch. They were performing on a hill and one of the gals literally slid down the hill as she came out to dance. She didn't miss a beat, made it look really pretty cool, and after that she became my favorite dancer of all!

Pink haired vikings? Oh sorry, that was Flutag. Ignore this.

Carnival games were a big hit. The kids won every time they played. That is the best way to go in a situation like this. Gabe is playing the ring toss game.

And here he is looking cool in his new hat and lei. And a snow cone (perfect due to the VERY hot weather). There's a bit of blue on his face due to the snow cone and some sugar candy. He already had the cool glasses. And he already was cool.

I have decided that Larissa is the ultimate water princess. She loved the giant (and I do mean giant) slip and slide, and at the end of the evening, when it finally cooled down, she did NOT want to get out of the pool. She was having way too much fun sliding down a mini slide into a kiddie pool and catching multiple balls she had put in the pool. Man, don't you wish that was always the most fun a kid could have? Simple things. That's the best.

Look at that smile. This is what you look like right after you slide down a giant (and again, I do mean giant) slip and slide. This is one of my favorite pictures. What a happy kid.

And Jon is sporting his new hat, and he liked the fact it matched his shirt (we decided today was green day). He was my Frisbee buddy, and we had a blast seeing how many times we could catch a Frisbee that thought it was a spaceship. We decided it was a crazy spaceship cause it couldn't have been US that caused the issues with catching that spaceship Frisbee. Darn thing.

Smile for mommy!

There were ponies. Jon and Larissa liked that. I decided to change this picture over to a cartoon effect. I like it! Again, look at that smile. She had so much fun. She reminded me of Cari at that age, having a good time wherever she went, and living for the moment. And lots of activity. And enthusiasm. Life should be filled with that as much as possible, don't ya think?

There were cars to drive. Jon and I couldn't figure the darn thing out, and one of the other boys driving another car very kindly came over and explained it to us. He was a nice kid and he made sure Jon could drive before he went back to his own car. How great was that? Jon then caught on right away and went to town. Well, okay, you know what I mean!

But the old ways always seem to call out to us, and Jon found the wagons just as much fun, if not more. Larissa liked the ride.

Hula hoop contest. Years ago Kseniya beat me in a contest at a holiday party and she just HAD to get out there and try to showcase her talents.

She got a few practice rounds in, tried a few hula hoops out, and found that they were too light a weight to keep up for any length of time. OUCH!

Too bad Kseniya. I'm sure if I had tried I WOULD HAVE WON this time.

Yeah, right.

Big ole honking slip and slid. Very popular. Here my friend Ted and his daughter give it a go. Go Ted Go!

And even though he's a Forest Grove High School football fan, and roots against Tigard (boo!) when we play them, I still really like him. You would too, trust me. I got a chance to talk to his wife, hold his 9 month old son (way too cute), and I have to say, I now like the entire family.

A good time was had by all. Thanks Kseniya for letting me come along and have fun with the kids. They were all good as gold, and reminded me of why we have kids. I look forward to other trips, and maybe Jon and I will figure out the whole 'crazy spaceship' Frisbee thing.

It could happen.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Hanging out

Mark is busy coaching himself some football. Time for High School football to begin! Steven was home, busy with math homework. I'm so proud of all the time and effort he's put into his online class this summer. He's been motivated, and it's one of the best parts of being a parent, seeing the amazing person your child becomes. He's amazing and I adore him.

What was I busy with? I decided to bake some cookies. Haven't made chocolate chip cookies for quite a while, so it was about time. Mark will be one happy camper when he gets home.

Jennifer came on over to hang out with Steven, give support when he needs help with his math, and watch:

The Olympics! And we all know the Olympics on HD TV is awesome. Really awesome!

And Nick: he was busy just hanging out. And in a few years, it will be Dr. Nick to you!!! How lucky we are he's a part of our lives.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Day in the life of...

I drove today for Mark and my commute, and while I was waiting for Mark to get off work I just had to take a picture of the view. I'm standing at the front door of his workplace, and it's a beautiful sight.

So then we get home. You know, I don't think Bampa realized he didn't give us a air hockey game: he really gave us a big ole cat bed! Lire LOVES sleeping on it, it's so nice and cool to lay on.

Oh yes, the kids have enjoyed playing on it. It's been great to have it in the house. We get a kick out of it, when Lire lets us.

Yes, I know Lire. Go away. You're trying to sleep. I'm out of here.

And then there was some football. Yes!

Football touches us at all stages of life. Man, now THAT's a fan!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

A girl's best friend.

Mark bought me the best gift today: a little penguin for our yard! The folks at Little Baja said they have penguins every once in a while, Mark has been checking in, and sure enough: today was the day! Yeah!

He's the cutest penguin in the world, and he's sitting right outside my front door, waiting to greet me every time I head out the door. What a great guy I'm married to.

Relay For Life, Beaverton

This morning Kathy, Leah, and I went and helped the good folks at the Beaverton Relay For Life. When you've been Relaying all night, it 's so darn nice to have someone come and help clean up. Been there. Done that.

Last year I took the picture above of a rather adorable young man.

He was attending again, growing up, as cute as ever, and hanging out with other young Relayers. Good for him!

They gave an award to someone who shows true Relay spirit, in the memory of one of their Relayers they lost this year. It was more special since the two women were friends. Here she is with her award, and there were a few tears shed. How wonderful to remember her spirit.

As you can tell, it meant a lot to all of them.

May we keep the spirit of those we've lost to cancer alive, well, and glowing.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Flutag!

Today was the Red Bull Flutag in Portland: fun! LOTs of people, and I do mean a lot of people!

And a really big big wheel. Really big.

Frogs.

A 'bunch' of bananas.

Even a WWII war plane! Mark liked that.

My favorite team? The lego team. They were GREAT!

A good time was had by all. I think.