Panda Pillow

Loving the Panda pillow!

It was a long day at the beach for this little guy and his panda sure came to the rescue!

Seaside 2016...Go Cats!

Around these parts, the "Seaside" basketball tournament is a big deal.

(granted they do tournaments at Seaside every weekend for a month)

It is a fun getaway for players and families and gives everyone a chance to relax and get to know each other better as a team.

This past weekend was C's team's turn for "Seaside"

That "everyone get to know each other better", in our case, was C hanging with buddies between games while his family enjoyed some time on the beach.

I fear that this is the new look of the Dougall family, as a family of four, as K and C get older and aren't able to join us on as many family outings. 

How did our kids outgrow us so quickly?

And in case you are wondering....C's team won both of the games on Saturday, including the game against his old Raleigh Park buddies.  He was actually guarding his best friend from Portland in his second game! 

Sunday C's team went on to win their games (without C) and ultimately win the Seaside tournament for the 7th grade bracket.

Fun Stuff!

You'll find us at the library

We are kind of a library family...

Rich sits as a member on the Wilsonville Library Board.

J and T (and Rich) all have their library card memorized.

The boys ask to go at least once a week but generally go two or three times a week.

The children's librarian know J and T by first name.

The library is considered a special outing with dad and for the past year Wednesday nights were almost always a library night with dad while I was gone to YW.

And we just like to read!

We feel lucky to have a pretty great local library.

So when Rich and I were brainstorming service project ideas for our family, it seems only right that we volunteered for a Saturday afternoon to serve our library.

C was in his element straightening shelves...

 

Rich helped J shelve books that had been returned...

K alphabetized movies before they went for reshelfing...

T was a runner for the librarian and did the biggest variety of tasks...

 

I really loved that my kids got to give back and learn a bit about what goes on behind the scenes at the library.  I dare say the kids even had fun!

O.B.O.B.

Oregon Battle of the Books...

OBOB for short

16 Books..

The Lightening Thief

Flora & Ulysses

Charlie Bumpers vs. the Teacher of the Year

What was Ellis Island

Mountain Dog

The Genius Files - Mission Unstoppable

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Rooftoppers

A Long Walk to Water

Diamond Willow

What was the March on Washington

The Sasquatch Escape

Shiloh

No Talking

How to Train your Dragon

The Books of Elsewhere - The Shadows

Sixteen Teams...

we are team "BOOKED" made up of Dylan, Jackson, Andrew & Jake

One Tournament

team BOOKED won two out of three "battles" of their battles for points.

team BOOKED won their Sweet Sixteen game.

team BOOKED lost their Elite Eight game - painfully close but it was pretty awesome because our team of 3rd graders came within one question of the team of 5th graders that beat them.

One Winner

not team BOOKED 

but actually they were all winners because these kids were amazing!!!

C's new swag for his room

When we moved into the house (almost two years ago) we decorated the kid's rooms and I thought that what we had done would last a while (silly mom!)

C became impatient for change so he spent some of his birthday/Christmas money on changing his room around and it has undergone a total transformation.

from this...

to this...

and from this...

to this...

It looks great.  

Hoping this latest decor lasts a while :)

one more swim post

We have traded seeing this hung up..

For seeing this hung up...

(that green ribbon would be K's 5th place ribbon from districts)

coupon worth clipping

Some coupons are more valuable than others...this one is a keeper!

(translation..."Snuggle Time with dad" from T)

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

I wanted to document J and T's boxes that they made for their class parties because they both made them 100% on their own and I loved their finished creations. 

This lego creation was T's Valentine mailbox and I got a kick out of the fact that some of his classmates wanted to know if there was a "kit" to make it :)

I'm sad that I can't find the photo that I thought I took of J's box, but if you look behind T's left ear in the picture above, you will see a darling Valentine monster sitting on the window sill.  That is J's cute Valentine monster creation!

Varsity letter

When did this...

become this...?

K's high school has a swim team and, following in one of her favorite aunt's footsteps, K jumped in with both feet (ha ha!)

She has had a GREAT season!
She swims the 200 m medley relay & the 200 m freestyle relay.
Individually she swims the 50 m free style and the 100 m free style.

K quickly advanced from JV to the varsity team and then to the "A" varsity team and as a result her first Varsity letter will be for SWIMMING!
(when asked by her brothers what a varsity letter was, her reply was "it's a W made out of carpet" - Ha!)

As her swimming improved we began seeing her name in the paper on a regular basis for her efforts and her accomplishments...

(including being named "athlete of the week")

This weekend was Districts (K's relay team took 5th at districts)
and the end of the season for K.


I would say she will miss it but she simply stepped out of the pool onto dry land and began winter track training and joined the running club in preparation for two 1/2 marathons she wants to run this spring so I'm not sure she will even have time to miss swimming :)

How is your strategy?

J received "Stratego" for his birthday back in December.

I have never seen my kids play a game more often.  I think the game has only been put away twice since he received it and both times it was taken out again within the day. The boys probably play 6-8 games a day.  

Best game ever for the cold, wet winter months that have been keeping us inside.

>

one of those "good to knows"

T came home from school talking about how his teacher had told them that after recess he had a "real treat" for the kids.

They came in from recess and T's teacher read them a book.

J, getting very serious, told T, "when a teacher says they have a real treat for you, they never really have a treat"

J spoke as a young man who had wisdom regarding such empty promises :)

#TBT

Okay...so it may not be a true "throwback" since I took the picture yesterday but do you see what I paid for 17 gallons of gas?

It feels like a throwback to the 90's!

the classics never go out of style

this sight in the entryway made me laugh...

Kaitlyn must have friends over