Christmas 2010

I'm feeling rather negligent in my Christmas post this year. I was really bad about taking pictures, plus, our computer crashed last week and I've been struggling to figure out where to find the pictures, etc. Despite the lack of photos, we did have a wonderful holiday season around here. Aunt Leann and Uncle Frank were in town for the week prior, then the Cotters came to town on Christmas Eve.

If you're looking for much better coverage of our past week, please click here and here. Aunt Leann did a wonderful job of documenting the festivities. Chris and Nate sitting on Santa's lap right in our front room!

Looks like Santa found his way down the chimney! His carrots and cookies look nibbled on, too.

Christmas Eve was spent at our house. All of the cousins got their Christmas jammies from g'ma. This year they were not all matchy-matchy.

....but wait! There were Snuggies, too!

Ah, Snuggies. What American household doesn't have at least one??

The Slaters. Merry Christmas!

He's a Poet

December, December

Right after November.

December, December

It's a month to remember.

~by Chris Moore

Christmas Ships

Last night we went to watch the Christmas Boats parade by on Sauvie Island. The McMullens live right on the water, so we joined them for an early dinner, then walked down to the boat dock and watched the boats go by.
It was wet and windy, but it's always fun to hang with the McMullens, regardless. We even got a personal history from their salty (and somewhat intoxicated) neighbor man who has lived on the Island for 50+ years...he told us the whole story of the boats at Christmas, and gave us a few chuckles, too.

Their favorite was the firetruck boat, and the big blue whale.

Co-ho-ho!

Christmas Tree Hunting

You've gotta be strong to haul this big tree out of the forest.
We went and got our Christmas Tree on Saturday at a farm on Sauvies Island. It was nice and all, but it sure wasn't the same as the Chandler Family Tree Party. The hostess, Cindi, is very pregnant, and it was a good year to take a break from this big event. We missed it....and hope that the tradition will continue on next year.

Gnomes

It was definitely a diamond day at the Goodwill this morning when I found these antique gnomes tucked away in the Christmas section for a mere $1.99 each. I did a little happy dance in the aisle upon my discovery because they're so cute. They were all the buzz at checkout too, as others saw my great find!

Eat your heart out, fancy gnome at New Seasons for $29.99.....I've moved on.

Thanksgiving 2010

Uncle Greg and Aunt Susan were host and hostess extraordinaire for Thanksgiving 2010. They did an absolutely fantastic job, and this year there were 21 of us there....the whole Slater family, plus about half of the Schubach family as well. It was fun to have such a large group!

No kids table for this crowd. Look at this amazingly gorgeous Thanksgiving dinner table. All 21 of us were seated around it. Pass to the left, please. I was impressed!
Looking down the table. I love that Bill's (Susan's brother-in-law), head actually showed up forefront in this picture...he warned me about it, but I didn't take him seriously! :)
Mmm. Every single morsel was made lovingly from scratch. It was seriously divine.
OK, so it's not a totally clean plate, but there were a few refills between the pre and post pics. We were all stuffed...and thankful for such a wonderful time.

trying to catch up

Boy, have I ever been lazy about posting on here! Working 40+ hours a week is to blame.

Above is my class on Halloween. No I don't only have 17 kids...4 of them were absent that day. What a great group they are! I do love the red leaves on our oak trees this time of year.

A funny piece of homework that I discovered in Christopher's backpack.

Yes we used to be wild.

save your fork....there's pie!

Today was a 'no school' day for the boys, so g'ma came to town to watch them and show them how to make an apple pie. They had tons of fun. First you make the crust....

.....then you peel the apples.
The pie is ready for the oven.
(I think they added some flour to their faces for special effects)

Nothing like a pie that is baked with love.

The finished product. Good thing g'ma showed them how it's done. These boys just don't get exposure to some of the things that were commonplace in yesteryear.

Oh, and she also made a delicious dinner for us that consisted of meatloaf, baked potatoes, and some cheesy broccoli casserole. It was delish. Thanks, g'ma...can we book you again?!!

trick-or-treat

A little bit of pre-function action with the McMullens...
two pirates out on the town...

In front of the house with a bag full of loot....

Wow! What a fun evening.

This was Chris and Nate's first year of really doing the the trick-or-treating the old school way~only in our neighborhood with friends. Just how Halloween should be celebrated.

Tale of two frogs

I love this poem.

I rediscovered it as I've been going through my 'teaching' stuff and setting up my new classroom.

This hung near my desk for 7 years. It's etched in my brain, and I remember sticking those frog stickers on it about 13 years ago.

good kid

Nate got the 'superfecta'....the perfect individual compliment with all 4 categories checked.

It was especially meaningful because it was from a substitute teacher...and you know how most kids are for the substitute. :)

???

Guess what Nate wants to be for Halloween?

Sandra

On Friday, I received some terribly sad news. My childhood friend, Sandra Farran, had a heart attack and died early in the morning of October 8th. She was only 43 years young.

Our friendship spanned 31 years...that's pretty much 3/4 of my life that she was a part of. I remember thinking that she was kind of a 'mean' 7th grader when I met her, but for some reason, we became friends. Friends that would last a lifetime. She was that friend to me who I did my growing up with. Sandra and I both had jobs in high school so we always had money to go and do fun things. She worked at the Busy Body (her mom's Ballet shop) and I made cones at the DQ. She had a black and red Celica car that she called 'Wee!" and I had that golden 76' mustang. Sandra's sense of humor was so quirky and silly, but we got each other.
We were at UofO together, and even shared a house in our early 20's when we both got 'real' jobs. Sandra had a crazy fun side that I have always loved, yet at the same time, she was completely responsible and I knew that she could be counted on. A fine balance, indeed.
Our lifestyles as adults were quite opposite, yet our friendship remained strong. Sandra was the epitome of the urban gal; and me, married and a mom. She loved shopping, shoes, travel, treating herself to nice things, and fun times. She worked hard, and was the ultimate young, professional woman. I was her friend who was home raising kids and being a stay-at-home mom. She thought my Dansko clogs were dorky~and she let me know. But these differences worked for us. In our friendship, I was the rock, and she was the kite.
Even though the hanging out and doing fun stuff changed as our lives evolved, we still would regularly talk on the phone and get the latest from each other.
A long drawn out "Widaaad!" I would always say to her, then she would reply with "Aidaaa!" in the accent that her mom and aunt (from Jerusalem) have. We would say this as we would start every single conversation that way. Completely silly, but we never skipped it...not once.
I will miss you, Sandra. Our friendship was amazingly special to me, and I'm so glad that I had 31 years of banter with you. I am rich with fun memories. I know that I will feel your presence around me. I'll see you again someday on the other side.

What a Week!

Wow. What a week it has been. This whole job thing happened so fast. I heard about the position last Wednesday, got a call from HR on Thursday, interviewed on Friday, and was offered the job on Monday. I signed my paperwork on Tuesday, and started on Wednesday. How's that for an action packed week?...and I wasn't even looking for a full time position. But sometimes you just have to listen to the whispers and realize that some things are just meant to be.

My new classroom as I found it. Desks, chairs, shelves, and tons of old stuff crammed into the cupboards. My work was cut out for me. I needed to have this room ready for 20 little first graders come this Monday morning.

This is how I left my classroom on Friday afternoon. Names on tables, calendar up to date, morning message ready for circle time, and pencils sharpened.

Of course, this means huge changes for our family, since I have been at home with the boys since they were born 6 1/2 years ago. Team Moore is ready for the challenge.

Working Mom

No, I didn't win the lottery, although I kind of feel like I did.

(f.y.i: this picture is from several years ago when my family got me good. They put a fake winning lottery ticket in my stocking at Christmas. I TRULY thought that I had scratched off a $10,000.00 winner. So cruel yet so funny!)

Why do I feel like I won the lottery? Because I just landed a job with the Beaverton School District teaching first grade at this school.

I'm a soccer mom

Soccer season is here! Chris and Nate are playing with a bunch of buddies from school.

Tons of fun. The first game was a huge success!
Nate, Erik, and Chris.

3 on 3. Chris gets the ball.

I don't know what Nate is watching, but I do know that I love his grassy knees.

First Graders!

Nate and Chris on their first day of first grade.

(New shoes and lunchboxes courtesy of Aunt Leann. :)

Sunriver

Uncle Greg and Aunt Susan are the proud new owners of a house at Sunriver, and they invited us over to break the place in. We did just that~and had a great time.

On the first night, Uncle Greg treated us all to some amazing star-gazing in the clear, Central Oregon sky. Looking at the night sky with someone who knows all the cool stuff really makes a difference. The Moore boys (all 3 of them) loved it!

See, I'm not kidding. This is Uncle Greg's HUGE telescope. Chris and Nate are lucky to have such a great mentor to nurture their own love of all things in the night sky.
We went on a really long bike ride through Sunriver on Saturday morning.

After lunch we went over to the Sunriver Nature Center to see the release of a red tailed hawk. He had been rehabilitated from an injury and it was his day to return to the wild.

Here he is right before the release. He was ready to fly!!

Fly! Be free! Silly bird. Both Susan and I got a little bit choked up as we watched him spread those big wings. Who doesn't love a happy ending?

Two trips to the swimming pool....always a hit!

Of course, lots of hot tub time too!

Uncle Greg made the boys some tasty pancakes for breakfast and turkey bacon.

Mmm...turkey bacon.

We went to the top of Lava Butte. What an amazing view.

Family portrait. Yes, we purposely messed with the signage.

6 year old potty humor is rampant in our household!

Nate really like Uncle Greg's big binoculars to hunt for chipmunks and ground squirrels.

Did you know that chipmunks have stripes on their faces, and ground squirrels don't?

That's how you can tell the difference.

The most exciting/adventurous part of our trip was when we went down into the lava river cave. These pictures don't even begin to show what it was really like, but I'll just tell you it was freaky! Not for the faint of heart or anyone who is claustrophobic.

This cave is a mile long and PITCH BLACK and cold (42 degrees)

We went about half way and figured that was good enough. Christopher really wanted to go to the end, but we'll save that for another trip that he can do with Uncle Greg.

This was when we were heading out of the cave.

Thanks, Greg and Susan! We look forward to many more fun times at your house.