outside

Poor Harry. He really wants to be an outdoor cat...but not at the expense of having to wear a harness and leash, and being the dorkiest cat on the block. So embarrasing!

On a happier note, Spring is pushing its green self through the barkdust.

Nicely done, Christopher!

Today was a special day at school for Christopher. He earned the last of the 10 beads, which made him the first kid at Vernon this year to earn all of the I.B. beads! He was presented with the bead and acknowledged by the principal in front of the student body at an assembly this morning. He even got a big round of applause. :)
The funny thing about it was that he was lacking the communicator bead....so by communicating clearly to Ms. Wager that he really wanted to earn that bead, he actually earned it~ by communicating!

Vernon is in the process of becoming an International Baccalaureate school, and there is language associated with the traits of an I.B. learner. Christopher can tell you what each bead color stands for, and the what he did to earn each individual bead.

Both boys take their beads very seriously.
White-communicator
Black-inquirer
Light Blue-knowledgeable
Purple-reflective
Orange-open minded
Yellow-thinker
Dark Blue-principled
Green-well balanced
Pink-caring
Red-risk taker
I love that they are learning about these traits, and know what they mean.
Congratulations Christopher! We are so proud of you.

Pretty Sneaky, Sis!

Oh, we got her good.

Surprise! Susan had no idea who was knocking at her front door at 5:00.

Caroline had quite the cute look on our face when she opened the door.

Oh, it's Auntie and Uncle Mark!

Susan was so excited and caught completely off guard.
Ella rounded the corner and wondered what all the ruckus was about.

Still taking it all in.
The final shot of the evening at 1:45 a.m.
It was a great party, with all of her fun friends....and the two trixters from the family, too.
Here's to 40!

Portland Parent Coach

The beginning stages of something very exciting......

You like?

Happy Birthday, Harry.

Harry turned 5 today. We know this because he is a fancy cat, and he came with official paperwork that told us his birth date.

Harry really is just a very cool Bengal cat, and has been the perfect match for our family. Playful, hypo-allergenic, low-maintenance, and extremely tolerant of 2 boys who are constantly in-his-business.

We're glad that he's part of our family.

Some things are worth keeping

Yesterday we went to Salem to celebrate Grandma's 66th (shhhh!) birthday. She had lots of help with blowing out her candles.
Uncle Mark started a trip down memory lane and was in the back bedroom looking through the old wood storage box that is in the closet. Yearbooks from Walker, Pee-Chee's with school work in them, Mt. St. Helen's ash in jars, pennants from the Oakland A's championship in the 70's, etc. were all there stuck in time. We had a few good laughs. Then my mom disappeared to her room and quickly returned with a folded, and somewhat tattered piece of paper that she shared with us.

(double click on image to enlarge)

It was a letter, dated October of 1980, which Mr. Warren, the middle school Vice Principal, composed and mailed to my mom. (I love that it's typewritten)

She has treasured it for 30 years.

As a parent now myself, I can see why.

Hildi

The only reason that I know Hildi is because she needed formula for her baby. I posted an ad on Craigslist to give away some formula and coupons that came to me in the mail, which I have no need for. Surely someone out there could use it. She responded, and I called to offer it to her yesterday. She called me right back, polite and as thankful as can be.
"I can come and get it tomorrow, and I will call you on the way since I will be taking the bus." she said.
"Where are you coming from?" I asked.
"Out Cornell Road". My gut sank. I couldn't stand the thought of this young mom traveling 2 hours across town to n.e. Portland on a bus with her baby for 2 cans of formula and about $20.00 worth of coupons.
"I will drop it off for you tomorrow....it's no problem."
So this morning after taking the boys to school I headed in her direction. I found her apartment complex. Brown.Drab.Lots of units, and definitely low-income housing.
As I circled the roundabout, I saw a young gal, probably about 20 years old, standing in the cold wind waiting for me--right where she said she would be.
I gave her the formula. She called me an angel and was as grateful as you could ever imagine. "Thank-you, thank-you." She said that her husband's paycheck for his part time job at Winco will be there on Friday, but this will tide them over until then.
We made small talk, and she told me that this is her and her husband's first apartment--they looked for housing in Washington State for the past year, and with no rental history, they couldn't get a place. This place had accepted them, and they found their paradise. But she said it took every single penny that they had in order to move here. They don't have a car. They went for the first 2 weeks of December with literally no food. She worries about her 10 month old son being hungry. A highlight of their Christmas season was that Lowe's (where she had a job before moving) gave them a tree that was decorated with lights and ornaments. I have never heard someone sound so gracious to have received this so that her son would have a Christmas. He even got some 'new' toys from a local church. As we talked, she never sounded bitter, or like she was asking for anything. She was just describing her world.
These people are struggling....really struggling. As we wrapped up our chit-chatting, she told me about her goal to get back in school to be a nurse. She had already taken a few classes towards this. She has goals and a plan for how to get there. From my 5 minute conversation with this young gal, I have no doubt that she will make it someday, but her road sure looked long to me. And daunting.
I reached in my purse and handed her a $20.00 bill. "Please take this and get something that you need for your family." "No, no, no...I can't." "We're fine...really," she said. Her pride was too big, and so were the tears that started to well up in her eyes as she stood there. She resisted a few more times, but then finally reached in and accepted my offering. Tears are contagious, and before we knew it we were two strangers wiping away our tears together. There was something about this girl that I really liked.
She'll never know it, but Hildi and I both got something valuable from our exchange off of Cornell Road today~for her, formula to feed her baby for the next week, and for me, a poignant reminder about being gracious and thankful.

Welcome, 2010!

We rang in the year 2010 at the Perry house at Roads End on the Oregon Coast. Good times.
With 4 little kids, we did in East Coast style......perfect for those of us who can't stay up much past 10:00. Kishra brought party hats/blowers/glow sticks---all the essentials to look like we really know how to get crazy.

Right after the stroke of midnight (well, 9:00) Mike brought out some fireworks.

Look at those faces watching the grand finale. We played lots of games. Our new household favorite, Monopoly.

A rousing round of Go-Fish.

Then we cheered on the Ducks in the Rose Bowl game. Dan had to be the photographer since he wasn't wearing any green or yellow.