Happiness: November

The happiness focus this month is to keep a contented heart.
I will do this by:

• Laughing out loud
• Laughing at myself
• No complaining and no focusing on the negative!

And something that's been making me very happy lately...
Levi's obsession with writing his own books.
He has written (and illustrated) about 8 books.  Topics include: Star Wars, Angry Birds, Robots and Flying Saucers.  He's obsessed!

We also had conferences with his teacher on Wednesday.  She said he's "adorable"!  Have to say that we agree...most of the time.  And he's meeting all benchmarks in reading, writing and math.  Very proud of this kid.  He is quickly becoming an independent reader.  It will be bitter sweet when he's reading me the stories before bed.

First Day of Kindergarten!

First day of Kindergarten Interview

Age: 5

What is your favorite color?

Gold and White

What do you want to do when you're a grown up?

Race cars with Dad

What is your favorite song (or musician)?

Tune Yards (decided with Dad's help since Levi's original answer was "I don't know." But when we ask him what he wants to listen to, he does always choose Tune Yards.)

What is your favorite book?

The Lego book I got at Powell's with my birthday money.

What was the best thing that you did at school today?

The whole school day

What do you want to learn in school this year?

How to do PE (they had PE today with Coach)

Learn how to read books for you...so I can read them to you.

What are you really good at doing?

Levi starts jumping on one foot

"This!"

#5

This kid is 5 today!

It's been a big year for him too.  This year Levi has:

-learned to swim

-started riding his bike without training wheels

-ran his first race

-lots of adventures as a rescuer
-worked on writing all his upper and lower case letters

We had an awesome shark party at the pool on Sunday.  Friends and family celebrated and swam.  It was so much fun!
Today we took Levi to his favorite "french" restaurant.  It's really just the diner in Multnomah Village but he calls it that because he thinks they make the best french toast!  Then we went to OMSI to check out the submarine and the dinosaur exhibit.  Fun family day!
And very soon Gabe and I will be off on an adventure without our birthday boy...to celebrate our upcoming 10th anniversary.

Holiday Weekend

The 4th of July holiday weekend began on Blueberry Hill.  Oh how we love fresh picked blueberries!  Between the three of us, 22 pounds of berries were picked.  Plus, it's also very nice to meet friends to pick with!  I put blueberries in many delicious baked treats over the course of the weekend.  Blueberry lemon muffins...of course!  An amazing Blueberry Rosemary Focaccia bread.  And blueberry crumb bars.

This kid is turning into quite the berry picker this summer.  And he still wants to go pick blackberries later this month.

We enjoyed another great evening at the Shaut's 4th of July BBQ.  Delicious food was eaten, corn hole was played, water balloons were thrown, cold hoppy beverages were enjoyed.

And I can't forget that sparklers were lit and colorful explosions awed over.  Everything the celebration of America's birth is suppose to be.  And I loved Levi telling me (while the big mortars went off), "Mom, hold me!"  That just meant I had to put my arm around him.  He loved it and I was happy to be his reassurance.  We actually didn't leave Dave and Carley's house until after 11pm.  After all, I did tell Levi we could stay as late as he wanted...

The rest of our weekend was spent with bike rides to the park, chatting with friends visiting from the Netherlands, rides with said friend in Gabe's "race car", and another BBQ to celebrate Jackie's birthday.
Great weekend with lots of friends and fun.  Perfect!

Volcano

I TOOK THIS PICTURE OF VOLCANO.

LEVI
(Written and typed by Levi with spelling help from Mom)

It was V week at school and Levi was really excited about the volcano they made in the touch table.  He wanted to take his camera to capture the eruption.  Levi got to touch the "lava" with his finger!  And he wanted the "lava" to run over the dinosaurs.

Happy Birthday Gabe!

We had a blast celebrating Gabe's 35th birthday on Wednesday.
I skipped my run after school and we went out to dinner at the pub in Hillsdale.  Gabe enjoyed some good beer and got a growler filled to bring home!
Waiting at home was the chocolate cake I made for a birthday treat.
So Levi and I sang, Gabe opened presents and we ate cake!
As you can see...Levi was really excited about the cake.  He couldn't even take his eyes off of it to smile for the camera.

Levi pretty much just ate the frosting.  When I called him on it, he just said, "I did eat some "bread" with the frosting Mom."  Guess he gets that from me...a good frosting is way better than cake!
Gabe's pretty excited about putting some new flair on his car this weekend.
Happy Birthday Gabe!

SNOW DAY!

Gotta love a good snow day!
We sure got it today.

Levi and I played this morning and went for a walk.  The snow is way too dry to make into snow balls or make a snow man, so Levi made up a game called "Go Go Crazy In The Snow".  Basically it means we roll around in the snow and throw it up in the air.  Not my favorite game...but he loves it!  He also loved "sledding" down one of the rocks in our front yard.  I guess anything that requires him to get snow up his sleeves, up his shirt, in his eyes, or down his pants is a good time.  I certainly don't agree!

After our adventures in the snow we made oatmeal raisin cookies and watched some of the winter Olympics we recorded last night.  This kid loves to watch those crazy snowboarders and skiers.  He told me to skip the figure skating!  I couldn't agree more!

Gabe came home around lunch time, right before the second wave of snow started.  We went to the park to sled down the hill.  Gabe made a sweet jump that was the envy of all the neighborhood kids!
We've had our warm cocoa and played board games.  We'll probably end our snow day with more Olympics...or a movie.
What an awesome day!

Looks like it's going to stay cold so the snow will be sticking around for a while.  Should be a great weekend!

Declutter/Organize and Re-energize

This month the decluttering/organizing included:
*Going through our coat closet and taking a bag to Goodwill of coats we haven't worn in the last two years.
*Filing the huge pile of papers on the desk that haven't actually made it the last foot into the file cabinet yet.  The paperwork from the purchase of our trailer (over a year ago) was at the bottom of the pile.
*Recycling the pile of magazines on Gabe's nightstand.  (Rolling Stone and Wired issues from the last 2 years.)  And he reads his magazines digitally now anyway!
*"Disappearing" and reorganizing some of Levi's toys.
*Sorting through 2 big boxes of cords, plugs, wires and other miscellaneous electronic items.  Was able to get Gabe to cut the collection by 3/4!  (10 years ago I had no idea Gabe was such a pack rat.)  I will get him in the garage to declutter...but it probably won't happen this month!
*While sorting through boxes of miscellaneous electronic items, we found quite a collection of old cell phones.  (Including both of our first phones!  Those original cell phones logged hours of our first conversations and flirtations.  Is it weird that I should feel sentimental about a cell phone?)  They'll all be recycled tomorrow!
*Total clean-out of my car.  Including vacuuming out sand from beach trips in August.  Now we need to take it through the car wash and get the outside to match the inside.  We took Gabe's RS through the car wash today, which was awesome because it hasn't been washed outside in 4+ years!
*Creating a chore chart for Levi.  He's ready to help out around here and earn an allowance of course!

Oh, and Gabe did a little project this afternoon too.  He ran some new networking wires to make our network run faster.  I'm glad it makes him happy.

Re-energizing included:

The purchase of new running shoes!  And lots of runs after school.
And new pillows for Gabe and me.  The new shoes are awesome.  New pillows...too firm for me but Gabe loves them and is happy with them!  I will have to try again.

I also signed Gabe and myself up for 4 runs this spring/summer.  Portland parks has these $5 5K runs and we're excited to give them a try.  I also signed Levi up to run the kids 1k in May and September.  We had a huge conversation last week about how he really wants to win a trophy.  In discussing the idea more during dinner, he decided (of his own accord) that he wanted to win the trophy by racing.  I don't think they'll give out trophies to the kids.  Anyone have any old trophies they'd be willing to part with...I'm sure we could modify them to please our little runner.

One way I thought we might make this a year of happiness for Levi is to let him have more choice in what we do during our family time on the weekend.  So today we gave him a choice of three activities to do this morning:
1. "Hike" in Tryon Creek park (and coffee/warm cocoa afterward since it was 25 degrees at 8am.)
2. Swimming at the community center
3. Bowling
Guess what he chose?

Pretty hard to believe that January is almost over already!

Happiness: January

While focusing on happiness in 2014, I've decided to start a journal again.  Old school journal.  Like with a nice notebook and pen.  I kept a journal all through high school and college.  I found it a useful way to process making decisions and sorting through my emotions.  So I decided to keep a journal this year.  My journal this year will be a "one-sentence" journal where I can record and remember the happy moments I might normally forget.  After all, "the days are long but the years are short"!

For the month of January, I've decided to focus my happiness project around two things:
1. Declutter and Organize
2. Re-Energize
(I've already started up my runs after school this week.  Seems to be my running injury from September has healed up well.  Although I have been taking it easy and started with intervals.  After I get some new shoes this weekend, I think I'll be ready to quickly work my way back to full jogging.)

I was also able to get some real things out of Gabe about what might increase his happiness in 2014.
What makes Gabe happy is:
+Projects.  "Doing them well...making something."
He even has a couple of ideas about projects he'd like to tackle this year.  First up, will be a fermentation chamber to be constructed in the garage.  Second, will be an espaliered fence to grow an apple tree in our front yard.
+Little adventures with me and Levi.
+Becoming skilled at something new.  Gabe said if I'm going to be his assistant brewer in 2014, he wants to be my bakers assistant.  Specifically, Gabe wants to take on the challenge of making homemade bread.  Love it when our passions/interests align!

I decided to ask Levi again tonight about what makes him happy.  So when I finished reading books, and we were snuggling in his bed, I asked him, "Levi...When do you feel happy?"
His answer?
"I feel happy right now."  Melt my heart!  I love this kid!
But I decided to see if I could get any other information from him and he said: "I feel happy when I'm playing angry birds on Daddy's phone."  Yes...that's the kid I love too!

I'll be recording my progress (and our happy adventures) at least a few times a month throughout the year.  Again...it will help me with remembering the moments since "the days are long but the years are short".

2014: Happiness

I spend a lot of time in the month of December thinking about, and reflecting on, the year that is about to conclude.  As many of you know, I like to set (and achieve) goals.  I like to see myself growing and experiencing things in new and interesting ways.  As the end of 2013 approached, I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to go in 2014.  Gabe and I have spent the last few years making healthier choices.  We completed projects and are enjoying the results.  We enjoy taking time to do family things.  I was sorta coming up empty on ideas to keep us focused on improvement and change in 2014.  Interestingly, the pick made in my book club for December was The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  As I was reading it, I kept thinking about the basic question she explores: Can I become happier by making small changes in my ordinary life?  Of course the answer for all of us is...YES.

To start, I asked Levi what makes him happy.
His answer?
"My Toys"
Then I decided to try asking Gabe.
His answer?
"Fast cars and loose women".  HA HA!
Guess I'm on my own in this more happiness adventure.

I started on Wednesday by making a list of things that make me feel good.  These are activities that I find fun, satisfying or energizing.
*Cooking/Baking
*Camping with my boys
*Traveling to new places
*Having friends over
*New plants in my yard
*Taking pictures
*Preserving memories (Scrapbooking)
*Reading
*Painting (pictures...not walls)
*Planning events
*Exercise/Running
*Completing home improvement projects
*Relaxing in the hot tub

Now my goal will be to think of some very specific changes I can make to do these things more often.

Yesterday, I made a list of all the things that make me feel bad.  Or things that are sources of anger, irritation, boredom, frustration, or anxiety in my life.
-a messy house
-the overwhelming expectations of my job.  I feel like I can never be (or do) enough with the time and resources I have.
-having to ask for help with household work.  (Don't get me wrong, Gabe is an amazing partner.  But he just doesn't see what needs to be done and do it.  I have to see it and ask him to help.  Which makes me feel like a constant nag!)
-financial debt
-people who don't put time and energy into nurturing relationships.
-"wasting time" AKA-watching TV (I came to this discovery in 2012 when I started to exercise regularly.  Gabe and I had a very sedentary routine of television viewing and snacking.  It's very hard for me to sit and watch television anymore.  I'd rather be doing so many things!)

Now my goal will be to think of some very specific changes I can make to shift my attitude or change my behavior around these things.

Treats!

Trick-or-treating goal of 2013 was accomplished!
Levi said he wanted to "fill his bucket with treats".

A bucket full of treats makes Halloween Levi's favorite holiday.
(Although I think Mom and Dad have had more treats from it then he has!)

October Update

Here we are at the end of October!
The last few weeks have been so busy.  I've wanted to get on here and let everyone know what we've been up to but it's just easier (and faster) to do Facebook updates these days.  (The super old computer I have to edit pictures on also doesn't help.)

Let's see...what have we been doing this month?
Celebrating our 9th anniversary with a kid free weekend "camping" at Nehalem Bay.

(Yes...that is Gabe reading a BOOK!  He actually almost finished the whole book during the course of the weekend.)

Levi went on his pumpkin patch field trip with Grandma G and his class.
Levi has been taking swimming lessons 2 mornings a week.  Silly kid still hates to put his face in the water but can float on his back for 10 seconds!

When I asked Levi what he wanted to be for Halloween months ago, his response was "Something scary."
For awhile it was a ghost and he finally decided it doesn't get much scarier than a skeleton.
So here's our little scary skeleton dressed up at the zoo on Saturday.

And the elephants, including baby Lily sure were playful.
It was so much fun to watch them splash and wrestle in the pool!

We carved our pumpkins.
Levi and Daddy wanted to make their Jack-O-Lanterns "scary".  I decided mine needed to be happy.

As you can see, this kid is really excited about Halloween and being scary.  It's all he talks about these days!

Last but not least, we took Gabe's project car for a spin this weekend!  His smile might not show it in this picture, but Gabe is very thrilled to have it driving.  (I won't tell you what his top speed down Multnomah Blvd was...) Now to get it to pass DEQ and get the new tags, renewal and such.

We're looking at another crazy week around here but I'll try to be a little more prompt with pictures from trick-or-treating.

Pre-K First Day

First day of Pre-Kindergarten Interview:
Age: 4

What is your favorite color?
Blue

What do you want to do when you're a grown up?
Well, probably put boosters on rockets.

What is your favorite music (or song)?
Robyn
(This kid loves to dance!  And his dance moves are getting even "better".)

What's your favorite book?
Jack and Annie
Is there a Jack and Annie book you like the best?
Ghost Town at Sun Down

What was the best thing that you did at school today?
I don't know.

What do you want to learn about in school this year?
science
crocodiles
rocket ships
astronauts

What are you really good at doing?
tracing letters

Just Levi and Mom

Gabe left for Denver on Saturday morning.  He'll be back on Tuesday.
So, Levi and Mommy got to do whatever we wanted to this weekend.
Saturday morning started with what Mommy needed to do.  We hit up Joann's quick to look at a few things. Didn't find much inspiration but Levi got to pick out a craft.  It's his new game called: Hippo Smash
(Obviously, his title.)

Since it was warm and sunny, we pretty much spent the day playing in the backyard.  Plus, Levi wasn't feeling too great.  He had a little vomit episode before Gabe took off.  Never really figured out what was going on because he seemed totally fine.

Today we went to the strawberry patch.  We picked for an hour and a half.  I think Levi picks like his Mom.  "Look, there's one more really big red one we have to pick."

Here's Levi pretending to eat one of the big berries he found.

We spent most of the day making things with our bountiful harvest.
Strawberry frozen yogurt:

Strawberry freezer jam (while talking to Daddy on Skype):

And Levi's all ready for his first swimming lessons next week.  We picked up a pair of goggles (which he's asked for at least a dozen times!) at Freddie's today.  He had to try them out in the bath tub tonight.

I'm in the home stretch!  Only 4 more days till summer.  We might have to celebrate my first day of summer on Friday with more strawberry picking!

Mom's Day!

I sure am one lucky Mommy.
So happy I get to be this silly little boy's mom.

Levi's really big right now on being a "rescuer".  So when we saw this mask at Target yesterday we had to get it.  Not sure why he's so into rescuing...maybe because of the fireman who visited his class a few weeks ago?  The mask was definitely the best $3 I've ever spent!  He loves it!

Levi sure has done a great job making me feel loved and special today.  (With some help from Grandma)

Levi and Gabe also let me stay in bed this morning while they made yummy cinnamon rolls!

Now we're waiting for dinner to finish...Gabe made one of my favorites!

We got our garden all planted and some weeds whacked down this weekend.

Also had a fun little picnic at the park today.

Someone is really close to being able to ride a pedal bike all on his own!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Levi and his friends at school must have been talking a lot this week about St. Patrick's day.

This week we've been informed that:
"If you don't wear green, you'll get pinched."
"There's a pot of gold at every rainbow."
"Jack, Reece and me were talking about how to trap a leprechaun and my idea was glue!"
"Leprechauns give you gold."

We were really hoping to celebrate with some corned beef for dinner tonight.  But New Seasons was out when we got back into town this afternoon!  So, Irish soda bread will be the extent of our Irish meal festivities this year.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

spelling

Levi is really into the sounds of letters and trying to spell things.
And like most boys, he's into gross body functions.
It's pretty funny when he combines the two.

Overheard from the bathroom on Saturday morning:
Levi: "Dad, toot starts with T right?"
Gabe: "Yes."
Levi: "And poop starts with P right?"

Gotta love those boys!

Full of Thanks!

I love Thanksgiving.
And I was happy to be cooking and hosting at our house again this year.  That was until I saw everything we had to wash and clean up.  (I hate to admit that I still have a roasting pan and dutch oven to wash...and it's been more than 36 hours since the big meal.)

Levi and I made pies together on Wednesday.
Along with my traditional no-bake pumpkin, we also made chocolate pecan (for Grandma G!)
Levi loved helping me put on the pecans!

The meal was great!
(Turkey took a little longer than planned...so Gabe's not in the picture since he's still carving the bird.)  Also, I didn't fix my depth of field on this picture so I'm sorry not everyone is in focus.

Someone loves Thanksgiving just because of the cranberries.  Pretty sure he filled up on them!

When I asked Levi what he was thankful for this year he said:
"I'm thankful for YOU...and Daddy."
Melts this Mommy's heart!
I sure am thankful for these great boys in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin

Celebration of fall (and Halloween) is in full swing around here!
Levi had a great time with Daddy and his classmates at the farm.  It was a rainy, cold morning but it looks like the baby cows made everything worth it!

Levi trying to "feed" the cow.

A hayride, apple cider, baby animals, pumpkins, and mud puddles...our kid was in heaven.  In every picture Gabe took of the kids together, Levi's sitting next to a little girl.  What's funny about this is that there are 10 boys in Levi's class and only 4 girls.  Yet he manages to sit by one every time!  In the group shot (which was blurry...unfortunately) Levi has his hand on one little girl's leg.  I'm afraid we're going to have to keep our eyes on this kid!

This morning we carved our pumpkins!
Levi was so excited.
It wouldn't be pumpkin carving without doughnuts and spiced apple cider.

Levi loved helping daddy get the guts out!

Gotta love this smile!

Once our jack-o-lanterns were finished, we went over to the Harvest Party at Grandpa and Grandma G's church.  I cannot even describe how excited Levi was about this "Halloween Party"!

He had a great time playing games, jumping in the bouncy house and eating cookies.
Plus, they had pony rides and face painting!

Levi specifically asked for a red dragon fly.

I have to conclude this post with a video we took at the pumpkin patch last weekend.  Grandma G taught Levi this pumpkin song and he's been singing it for weeks.  Soooo cute!



Happy almost-Halloween!

Weekend with Georgie

Every kid in Levi's class gets to bring Georgie the monkey home with them for the weekend.  They have fun with Georgie and then share the adventures they had in a little binder so all the kids can see what Georgie did at home with their friends.

So, Georgie spent the weekend with Levi!
The first thing Levi and Georgie did together was take a nap.  Levi quickly informed Grandma G that Georgie knows the sleep rules at Levi's house.  But after nap, Levi did tell Grandma G that Georgie wanted to jump on Levi's bed.
Levi told us that Georgie likes race cars, just like Levi.

Levi also told me that Georgie likes SkippyJohn Jones stories, just like Levi.

Levi and Georgie (plus Mommy) did a puzzle together.

Of course, Georgie had to come with us to the pumpkin patch!
Together, Georgie and Levi led Mommy and Daddy through the corn maze.

And Georgie helped Levi pick out a great big pumpkin.

Georgie also came with us to the farmer's market this morning.  Levi and Georgie picked out purple carrots.

Sure was fun having Georgie with us this weekend!  Hopefully he'll be back again before the school year is over.