soaked to the bone

 I used to run.

I used to run a lot.

Then three years ago I moved to Portland and it started to rain....and I stopped running.

Last week the Portland area set all kinds of rainfall records - wettest September on record with nearly all of the rain falling over 4-5 days.  It was a real bummer!

The good news?

I laced up my tennis shoes on my running days and ran anyway.

Boy did I get soaked but boy did it feel good!

rear view mirror

every morning, at approximately 8:28 a.m., this is the view from my rear view mirror....

it makes me a bit sentimental...

Soccer season has begun...

Both K and C are playing soccer this fall.  Yesterday was our third week of games and our third week in a row in which their games were at the exact same time, but 100 blocks away from one another.  

As a result, Rich and I are not attending games together.

Another result is I cannot report about, or share pictures from, more than the game that I attended....

What I can report about yesterday's games is that they were soakers!!!

I was at K's game and she was soaked to the bone about 1 minute after leaving the car - before she even got to the field and long before the game began.

T, J and I were fortunate to find a covered pavilion to stand under but just the walk to get there left us soaked, despite my having an umbrella!

Rain or not, K is enjoying playing with a lot of friends on her team.  I think, for her, it is as much about the social, and the coordinating of hair ribbons, as anything else :)

C on the other hand is all about the game and the competition!!!

I attended his 1st game of the season two weeks ago and they won 8-5.  Our striker, C, scored 3 of his team's goals.  

Last week his team won 3-2.  C scored while playing striker first half and then played goalie for the second half and blocked all the shots except one.  

Yesterday his team won 7-1 and C had two goals.

Not bad for a kid who hasn't played on a soccer team for 5 years!

This photo is from his 1st game (when it was actually sunny) and he is holding up three fingers for his three goals!  Good job C!

Here's to hoping for a few more sunny Saturday's between now and the end of the season!

Ty's talent

In primary the kids take turns sharing a "talent" with the other children and today was T's turn.

T decided that he wanted to share his bicycling talent, so he and I went to the bike park a few days beforehand and I shot video which we were able to turn into a video for him to share.

a little insight into personalities

I went into J and T's room one night recently after they were both sound asleep.

I leaned into T and whispered "I love you so much" into his ear...he remained asleep but gave a cute doggie wimper and snuggled his face into mine.

I then leaned into J and whispered the same thing into his ear....he also remained asleep but gave me a right hook to the jaw.

Neither response really surprised me :)

I sure love my boys...distinct, unique personalities and all.

my baby goes to kindergarten...

My big kids all began school last week.

Poor T had to patiently wait an additional week but Monday was finally his big day...

T'S FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!!!

I am proud to say that I shed no tears, but I still am trying to figure out how it is that all my kids are now attending school.  Man oh man, but the years keep passing by faster and faster!

Elder & Sister Dougall (again)

We have been so blessed these past few months to have Rich's parents home between missions.

They have been living close and the kids have enjoyed spending lots of time with them...sleepovers at their house, scrapbooking marathons, shopping and lots of games.

The fun has increased these past few weeks as grandma and grandpa sold the home they were living in and moved in with us.  I wish I had photos of all the fun things my kids have been doing with their grandparents, but it is hard to capture the love being shared, the example being set and the time being given.

My kids are SO lucky and I hope they recognize the unique opportunity they have had and the amazing grandparents that they get to claim as theirs.

(games were an almost nightly event these past few weeks)

(grandpa was busted playing legos when he only had 64 other things that needed to be done - but grandpa's wise words were that T will not be little for long so he gave his time where it mattered most)

We are going to miss grandma and grandpa, or Elder & Sister Dougall as they are now called, while they are in New Zealand. 

We said our goodbye's this morning over breakfast and we will be looking forward to the weekly updates as they serve their mission.  I know that they will be terrific missionaries in any responsibility that is given to them. 

Everyone attempting the Maori haka look....

looks like my kids probably need to go to New Zealand to perfect the look...anyone willing to sponsor a delightful family of 6 on a New Zealand escapade, please apply by leaving a comment!

Back to School 2013

Here in the Pacific Northwest we don't start school until AFTER Labor Day and I think that that is brilliant.

Now if I could only pair it with the brilliant school ending before Memorial Day that we had when we lived in Las Vegas.

Sadly, nobody has called and asked my opinion :)

But three of my kiddos did start school on Tuesday.

Don't they look fantastic!!!

J is hitting the 1st grade and doing so with his kindergarten teacher in tow, who has moved up to teach 1st grade.  My bet is she just couldn't let J go to 1st grade without her :)

C is king of the school this year as a 5th grader.

Watch out world!

When did K grow up and is she really in 7th grade?  

No longer the "baby" of the middle school and excited to no end over her class schedule and her A/B days and seeing all her friends after the summer break.

Who are these kids?

The 1st day of school brings out some serious excitement at our house!

And that little monkey kindergartner will get his 1st day of school next week...so stay tuned!

The kids came home to a plate full of homemade chocolate chip cookies...the kind that demand you to sit at the kitchen table and tell your mom at least 2 great things about your new class.

We picked up dad from work and went out to eat so that Rich could hear about the first day of school as well.  The well meaning mom intended to have a great photo on the waterfront after our meal (we ate at Spaghetti Factory on the waterfront) but in all the excitement one of the children threw up during the meal and the photo op kind of lost it's allure :)

It's all real around here!

Here's to a great new year!

Summer Reading Chains

I found these cute summer reading chain printables online at the beginning of the summer and thought that the kids would enjoy having a visual that recognized all their summer reading effort.

I think they were a success!

Each link was a completed book...you can see we had some serious summer reading going on.

And the "winner" was J....who set the goal to have his chain reach to the ground and by summer's end it did!

getting over the sting...

T got the unfortunate experience of being stung by a wasp a couple of weeks ago.

I have never heard a child scream so loudly!

Luckily (?) for him the bee stung him right by his eye so the bone prevented the stinger from going all the way into the skin...I shudder to think of how loudly he would have screamed had it gone all the way it!

The result of the sting was an entire week of T refusing to go outside...not to play, not to get the mail, and only with mom if we needed to get in the car.

Luckily he met this really nice "bee" at the state fair and T has made a full recovery.

in case dog walking doesn't work out

I think K is working on perfecting some other marketable skills...

Thank goodness for patient brothers!!!