Andrew's Birthday 2009

Andrew is 9 years old. I can't believe how quickly time flies. Andrew decided that this year he would go bowling with family for his party. We alternate family and friend parties every other year. This was his year to have a family party. We went to Big Al's for bowling. It was pretty fun. I think the kids had a blast. We went out to The Rock for pizza afterwards. We all stuffed ourselves. Andrew wanted a soccer cake this year. He has really gotten serious about soccer and so that was the theme. I had Costco do the cake, my first one that I haven't decorated for him ever. It felt kind of weird not doing the decorating. Andrew was pretty easy to shop for this year. All he had on his list was gift cards to buy books, a Star Wars trilogy, and some other random things. He wanted to buy a bunch of Warriors series books. There are about 20 books in the series so he needed lots of gift cards. It is nice that he is out of the toy phase, but it makes it a little more difficult to find something that he really wants. We also spent much of the day shopping for gifts and wrapping gifts for the family that we were sponsoring for Christmas. It was a nice thing to do but truth be told, I think Andrew wanted a little more attention for himself. The day after his birthday, Andrew broke his arm so I guess this might be a rough year.

Broken Arm

It is a miracle that I am not getting arrested. Andrew broke his left radius. This is the 3rd broken arm for my kids. Marin has had 2. I promise I am not abusing my kids. It was the day after his birthday and he slipped on the wet grass in the yard. I was inside but heard him screaming with pain. He came inside and said he was going to die. He refused to let me even look at his arm. He wouldn't let me lift up the sleeve of his jacket either. We rushed out of the house to the ER. He was howling in pain the entire ride over. Andrew told me to valet the car because he couldn't walk to the ER entrance from the parking garage. They got him right in, put him in a wheelchair and doped him up with pain medication almost immediately. They couldn't even look at his arm to determine the severity until he had some pain meds. They put in an IV so that they could give him medication easier that way. I went with him to radiology which was quite an ordeal. They had to be really creative so that they could get the pictures and angles that they needed without hurting him too much. In fact, he dry heaved because of the pain of moving his arm. They determined that he broke only the radius, and not the ulna, although they said it would have been easier to set had he broken both. The doctor knocked Andrew out to set his bone. They had an in-room x-ray machine so that they could instantly see if the bone was back in place. I could not believe the amount of physical exertion this guy was putting into getting his arm reset. He worked for 45 minutes, with Andrew coming to mid way through. He decided that he wasn't getting the bone where he wanted and so they let Andrew come out of the anaesthesia for a while so that they could get another Orthopedist in to assist. They put Andrew under again and then worked for another 15-20 minutes before the bone was set satisfactorily. We ended up being in the ER for 7 hours. It was a marathon for all of us. Poor Andrew was sick from the anaesthesia too. He got his first cast up to his armpit. Then several days later, he got his second cast which was cut above his elbow. Finally he is on his third cast which only goes up to the elbow. He is supposed to get this one off on Wednesday and get a wrist guard which he will have to wear for 2-3 weeks. I will be so glad when this is over, although Andrew has been quite a trooper about it all.

Marin's First Taekwondo Promotion

Marin began doing Taekwondo in August of this year. She had her first promotion test last Friday. She was so excited to be going up for her yellow stripe. She has worked hard to learn her form. She started going to the older class with Andrew, although she is not too thrilled to be sparring with high schoolers. She has picked up the form quickly. She did great at her test. Although she was very timid and quiet, she showed her form well and sparred well too. She looks super cute in her uniform too. We are so proud of her.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2009

Thanksgiving was very low key this year. We decided that we would cook instead of going out. We were going to run a turkey trot on the Salmon Creek trail instead of the Zoo Turkey Trot. I got runner's knee two days before Thanksgiving and then on Thanksgiving it was pouring rain all day, so there was no running to be had. I would have run had my knee been okay but I didn't want to push it. We went to the Harkers mid morning and hung out for a while. A group of us decided to go to the park and play in the rain. Keri and Charlie had a swing jumping contest which ended in a tie. The kids played on the playground and got wet. We then went to the church to play basketball. Unfortunately the gym was already being used for basketball so Keri, Charlie, Norm, and Brendan played against the others who were there. We returned back to the Harkers and sat down to a traditional meal. The meal was fabulous--my favorite of the year. We all probably ate too much and then we just hung out for a while. We had planned on seeing a movie in the afternoon but we couldn't decide which one to see so we stayed home. A few of us went to Old Navy to check out their sale--jeans for $10 for kids. It was nice to get out for a little bit. The kids stayed home with the grandparents. Everyone got along for the most part. We made plans for the rest of the weekend, which included shopping a little and going to Mt. Hood for tubing.

Mt. Hood was a blast. We got up and headed to the mountain early so that we were there when the tubing started. We went to Summit. The kids were a little tentative at first, preferring to go down with an adult. They quickly decided that they wanted to try it on their own and that was the end of that. We had races down the mountain, took a break for lunch and tubed some more. It was a fun morning spent in the snow. Overall, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

I have much to be thankful for. I am grateful for my family. We are lucky that Kevin has a great job that he enjoys and that allows us to have the comforts that we do. I am grateful that we are all healthy and able to pursue different passions--taekwondo, running, soccer, etc. I am grateful for so much this season.

Third Grade Urban Walking Tour

So Andrew's class and the other third grade class took a walking tour of Portland. I signed up to be a chaperone. Of course, it was a blustery, rainy, cold day--typical Portland weather. We took the Trimet into downtown during the latter part of rush hour. Let me tell you, there were not very happy commuters sharing the bus with a bunch of third graders. I was assigned a group of 2 girls and 5 boys. They were all boys that I knew well since most of them have been playing soccer and baseball with Andrew for 4 years. In fact, when they saw who their chaperone was, the boys walked over to me and said, "Your favorite boys in the whole school." Our tour guide, Jan, was fantastic. She kept things organized and moving. She took us into as many buildings as possible so that we could get out of the cold and rain. She said that in 6 years of doing tours, this was the worst weather day she had seen. We learned a lot about Pdx as it is fondly called here. I had a great time and I think the kids did too. Although, at the end, Andrew complained that our guide talked too much. I told him that was her job, but he thought we should do more walking and less talking. Ahh, kids.

Soccer Parties 2009

Both the kids finished out the season strong. Andrew had one more week of soccer than Marin. They both had pizza parties with their teams. It is always nice to hear what the coaches say about the season in general and about your kid specifically. Marin's coach talked about what a great player she was. Andrew's coach said that Andrew was one of the most improved players from last year and talked about his versatility at playing a number of positions. He also said that Andrew was willing to play wherever the coach asked him to. I am glad that they both enjoyed the soccer season. I don't know where the pictures I took of Andrew's party are. I am wondering if they got deleted accidentally.

Halloween 2009

This Halloween was really busy. The day before Halloween, the kids' school had their carnival. I was on the committee to set up and run one of the booths. Marin's teacher also asked me to be in charge of their class party, on Tuesday. She gave me a list of names of parents that wanted to help and let me run with it. Needless to say, I was not thrilled with having double duty that day. It was also the ward Halloween party that night. We went a little late, but made it for Trunk or Treating. On Halloween, both kids had soccer games at 9 am. It was nice to get them over with early in the morning but it was a rough morning after such a late night the evening before. We went trick or treating in a village by our house during the afternoon. Then we went to a shopping center for trick or treating. We arranged to go with the kids in the neighborhood at 6:00. It was a pretty good group of kids that went together. The parents all socialized while the kids ran from house to house. Fortunately, our neighbors are really great at supporting all these trick or treaters. After going around the hood, we went over to Keri and Charlie's house for more trick or treating with Emily. One of Kevin's clients prepared one of those plastic pumpkins full of candy for each of the kids, in addition to all the other candy that they got. I think my kids ended up with about 10 lbs. of candy each. It was an insane amount. Marin kept complaining that her feet hurt--she didn't wear her ruby slippers because they weren't comfortable enough. In fact, she hardly wore half her costume--Dorothy. I carried Toto in his basket, she left her shoes in the car and her hair was not braided. Oh well, there's always next year. Andrew really looked like Harry Potter. In fact, he even wore the tie the next day to church. I think it's going to do the trick because he has balked at wearing ties to church previously. All in all, a very fun Halloween.