Go Blazers!

Ashe and I were lucky enough to go to the Blazer-Houston first round playoff game tonight (Game 5). We had a great time. This is Ashe from our great seats.

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Sorry for being a pain and asking you guys to all join to be able to view my blog. I never know about putting so much stuff on public websites. I know it's probably not the smartest thing to do, but it's nice for family. It's also fun when people stumble upon us through the blog.

Blogworthy.

I haven't done these as regularly lately. I notice they trend upward when the kids are on vacation and we are doing more - holidays, Spring Break, summer. So, in a couple of months, I will be all over this I am sure.

I took a couple pictures of Finn all wrapped up today. He wanted to hang out with me in my (basement) office. It was very sweet and cute. He's a good looking kid...even if I am his mother.

Another Birthday for Ashe

finn, tyler, ashe - they appear to be such little angels.

We had another of our (in) famous In Town Vacations this weekend. Ashe had a hotel night, instead of a birthday party. We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn on the Willamette River in downtown Portland. Much more palatable for me as well. Laser tag or Bullwinkle's just weren't something I was aching to do.

It was around 70 degrees all weekend in Portland. The hottest days of the year. We walked on the promenade along the river; we got pizza; the boys swam; we went out to dinner; and, the boys had copious amounts of video game playing time. Ashe's friend, Tyler, came along, as Ashe requested. It was a good time, and Ashe had a great time - which is all that matters.

view of street car and downtown buildings from our balcony.

Happy Birthday, Ashe

Happy 10th birthday to my first born, Ashe. I love you little boy.

Decade

Tuesday night we had Ashe's 10th birthday party. He will be 10 years old on Sat, March 28. It is, of course, hard to believe that my oldest child is almost a decade old. He's such a great kid. I'm so lucky to have him. I love my Ashe P.!!


His birthday party was just our family, Yvette, and the Sorensens. In a couple of weeks he gets a night at a hotel (on the Willamette in downtown Portland), with his best buddy, Tyler, in lieu of a friend party, per se.

Crazy. I'm old.

And the Award Goes to...Everyone!

Kids' sports are funny these days. I'm not saying any one child should be singled out in a basketball team made up of kindergarten through 2nd grade kids, but it does crack me up that every kid gets a trophy. Finn would have died had he not received one, as he's seen his brother receive one for a few years in a row, but I don't know if it's a good thing for kids. I know it sounds hardcore, and maybe it's obvious, but in life, everyone does NOT win.

Anyway, on to the positive...Finn finished his first basketball season as a Brown Bomber. He had his last game and pizza party last Sat, March 14th. It was so fun for him. He had mixed feelings about actually playing on the team and going to practice. Half the time he liked it and the other half he hated it, but overall, he must have enjoyed it because he says he wants to do it again next year. He was on the perfect team, because most of the kids there were just like him: they just wanted to have fun and hang out with their buddies. Finn could have cared less if he ever touched the ball, and at times, some of the children ran from it! The one girl on the team, Claire, was really knowledgeable. There were a couple of other kids who knew what they were doing, but for the most part, they all were just havin' fun.

Oh, and those of you who know Finn will appreciate this: The coach's comment about Finn, when he gave him his trophy was that Finn did everything with a smile on his face. Yep, that's him!! Also, Finn's biggest excitement for each game was the fact that they used his ball as the game ball, every single game...he said they "liked the gold lettering".

Best Friends Forever.

I've mentioned Ashe's friend, Tyler, before. This guy is such a great kid. He's so good to Ashe. Ashe says that he and Tyler are "best friends forever". I love that. I love that Ashe has someone he considers a "Best" friend. It's been a long time coming.

Last Saturday, after Ashe's game, Ashe went to Tyler's 10th birthday party at neon putt putt golf, in the Hilton Downtown Portland. Such a great time. Tyler's mom, Becky, is always so good about including Finn too. We really like their whole family. Just nice, good people.

Jacob, Tyler, Ashe

Jacob has such great form!!

My little Picasso?

Finn is a crack up. He goes from one extreme to another: he's obsessed with Wii. Anything video game-related is heaven to him. He gets way more pissed off when we make him stop playing than Ashe. He loves art as well, though. He will go to his art table (he calls it his "Art Center") and work on something when he's bored. During the holidays he would randomly make ornaments for the tree. One time he made a "Brain Sculpture". It was a crumpled piece of paper, with colored pipe cleaners wound all around it. Pretty creative I must say.

His concepts are great. Picasso he's not, but he's very creative. Here's his latest creation. I don't think he intended it to be an homage to (advertisement for?) Nike, but that's what it turned into...both in the materials used and in the form it took. Here you go. Notice the b-u-tiful jewels. :)

At the Mountain on Snowmobiles and Tubes.

We joined Ashe's friend, Tyler, and his family at Mt. Hood on Saturday. Tyler used to go to the same school as Ashe and we try to see him regularly, when he's in town visiting his mom. He has twin brothers as well.

We spent the afternoon on innertubes, snowmobiling and playing on the indoor play structure at Ski Bowl. They provide nice nylon covered tubes and a rope tow. The play area is included with it. There's a great snowmobile track for kids (120 lbs or less - I soooo wanted to do it, but couldn't convince the guy that I was only 120 lbs :)...It was a lot of fun. Here are some pics of the boys on the mobiles. Will post some tubing pics when I get them. I recommend it...it's $25 for all day and $15 for 2 hour pass. I'm cheap, so that's more than I think it should be, but you do get to get towed up the hill. Skiing at Meadows is like $65 now, so I guess that's perspective...God, I sound old.

Movie Night.

Yes. It's been awhile. I had a "complaint" from a regular reader today, so thought I should post something. :)

We're not big Valentine's Day people in this house. Dennis probably has his reasons (probably the same reasons most men don't like it), but mine are: a person shouldn't wait for a special day to tell someone they are loved; and, I'm not much of a romantic. I'm very emotional, but candy, flowers, wooing, candlelit dinners, holiding doors open - that does nothing for me.

Our day was fine but not focused on the "holiday". We spent it at the boys' basketball games and with Cade and Tucker visiting us at our house. Dennis did surprisingly get me flowers - but we don't celebrate this day!! The boys got a teeny piece of chocolate and, are watching Madagascar 2, happily.

I probably shouldn't have even bothered posting...but at least it's something. Here are the boys watching their movie. Hot off the presses. :)

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!

Saturday night we celebrated Caver's birthday. We are classy, classy people and went to Hollywood Lanes. Yeah!!

Caver - center of photo - and the rest of the party.

It was Caver's family, our family, my parents, Lisa's family and Caver's brother-in-law's family. It was actually a really great place for a birthday party. We go there quite often, and the kids enjoy it. Finn just likes the chicken strips and not bowling, but they all have fun there. Sean got St. Cupcakes; they bowled; and, had lots of bad (but, oh so good) bowling alley food.

gray and ashe...really sort of cute to see them actually
working together on something.

Happy Birthday, Caver (Tuesday)!!

so - do you know what lisa and dennis are laughing about in this photo? see dennis' hand? he's teasing that andy should have broken his wrist the way he was tossing the ball. yeah, just laughing at a man potentially breaking bones. those two are evil! ;)

Before the party, both my boys had basketball games Saturday - one early a.m. and one evening. That is one of the reasons for bowling, as Cade's (my nephew) team was playing Finn's team near the alley. There couldn't have been a worse thing for Finn to have to play his cousin. He is not too keen on this basketball thing. He fretted about the whole game several days ahead of time and was not happy that he didn't know how to play. They had one practice prior to the game. Dennis and Ashe have been showing him a few things, but he was petrified because he was unprepared. Total fear of failure, like his mom...The game ended up being hilariously fun. Those kids crack me up to no end. Finn felt successful for two reasons: he decided he "liked the running"; and, they used his personal ball as the game ball - "the referee picked it because he liked the gold lettering". That kid and his little analysis...

Ashe had his first regular season game of the year. They lost but they played amazingly well. Just like the preseason game I went to, Ashe played as well as I've ever seen him...really had his head in the game. And, as evidence of how into it he was - I'll let you in on a little secret: he had the most rebounds in the game. Molly - his coach and my good friend - emailed me today and said that he will be recognized at tomorrow's practice (as she's going to do for all the high rebounders every week). I'm so proud of him. He will be ecstatic!! But, shhhh. It's a secret.

the chargers...ashe, fourth from right.

I always tell him I don't care how many points he scores - only if he's paying attention and trying. Yes, sounds cliche, but that's hard for him - paying attention.

Ashe lamented that he lost to a team with three girls. (See right for Ashe being guarded by a girl - awesome!!) I loved it! Dennis thought the girls were the best on that team!

It was a family-oriented Saturday. We had a good time. At least the boys got a little break from video games for the weekend. Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones have taken over our house. :)

A Best of 2008 Music List

About ten years ago and earlier, I would have had many albums to sort through from which to pick my top albums of the year. Sometimes it was hard to limit it to ten (only eight this year). As I've gotten older and less hip, it's easier, because I don't buy as many and/or the albums I purchased didn't come out in the current year.

I should be proud of myself, because browsing through my catalog, I liked almost all of the 2008 albums I purchased. That doesn't mean I purchased a lot, but I actually really liked what I DID purchase. I purchased a few singles from albums where I didn't want the entire thing, but I thoroughly enjoyed most that were purchased in their entirety.

My best of 2008 list:
1. She & Him's Volume One - by far my most listened to. I love Zooey's voice. I love the throwback feel to the record. I love every little bit of this record. Favorite track: Sentimental Heart.

2. MGMT's Oracular Spectacular - This is a close second in play counts on the ipod and inclusion on playlists. A completely different feel than the prior, yet just as inviting. I like the 70's feel to some of the songs on this, but others are completely pop-sounding, and others cannot be categorized. Favorite Track: Kids and Electric Feel in a dead heat.

3. The Gutter Twins' Saturnalia - Yes, a lot of this is grunge-tinged. Mark Lanegan from Screaming Trees comes by it naturally, though, and I'm a typical girl who thinks Greg Dulli's voice is dreamy...so, I am a fan of this record. I'm fairly new to it, but I adore it. I dig the driving, ominous feel to it. Favorite track: Again a dead heat - between The Stations and God's Children.

Other records I enjoyed but don't feel the need to elaborate on:

4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (Fave track - M79)
5. Raveonettes - Lust, Lust, Lust (Fave track - Blush)
6. Santogold - Santogold (Fave track - Lights Out)
7. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer (Fave track - Grey Estates)
8. The Breeders - Mountain Battles (Fave tracks - German Studies or It's the Love)

Favorite song of 2008 (thanks to Rick Emerson for even making me aware of it):
Morgan Grace's "Valentine". The perfect pop ditty.

*rereading this i have to explain that i will always call them records. i know i'm old...

Happy New Year

We spent New Year's Eve at home. Today (New Year's Day), we had "Christmas" with Dennis' mom and sister.

Happy New Year. 2009's gotta be better than 2008!

It's a Stark Street Pizza Christmas.

We didn't get together with Lisa's family a day after or right before Christmas, like we usually do, so we did it tonight. We planned to gather at my house, but everyone was excited for Stark Street Pizza. Yeah, seriously. To be honest, I was just too lazy to do anything, especially clean, so I was glad, too. :)

It was a lovely time at the pizza joint for a holiday celebration...especially the large (real) stuffed bear on display there (see above photo). Ella and the four boys had a string of questions for me, asking which body parts were real and which weren't. They decided the tongue and eyes definitely weren't. I told them they were probably right. That was interesting dinner conversation.

We exchanged some gifts. Andy made (read: whittled - I'm not joking - like the Owen Wilson character in "Meet the Parents") the kids' presents. He'd made them a Harry Potter wand once before. This Christmas, he whittled them bows and arrows (see photos to the right). The arrows are padded at the end. They go fast and far (!), but don't do damage...what a great, great handmade gift for them.

It was an interesting Christmas exchange. The weather this year made everything a little different. Lisa's like a sister to me (the only non-family member at my wedding, for goodness sakes), so this was part of the holidays we couldn't miss.

Aloft in Portland, OR.

One of my presents to the boys was a night at the W Hotels Aloft Hotel. People who know me know that I love hotels, in general, and I love the W Hotels (Westin family), specifically. When this opened at the Portland IKEA-anchored mall Cascade Station, I knew I wanted to stay there.

When we went to Disneyland earlier this year, both of my boys were as excited to be at the hotel as they were to be in the theme park. I've decided we will just vacation in Portland, from now on. There are still a few hotels I would like to try. Another in the Westin family is the new The Nines, in downtown Portland.

I didn't know if he would, but Dennis ended up coming with us. He doesn't have the fondness for hotels that the boys and I do. It was going to be two nights, but one ended up being plenty. The boys played endless Wii on the 42" TV in the room; and, swam in the warm indoor pool. They loved it. We ate a couple of kid-friendly (but decent) meals and some tasty dessert. Was a fun outing. It's nice to just relax at home now.

Christmas.

Christmas at Granny & Gramps'.

(clockwise from left-Cade, Ashe, Gramps, Tucker, Finn)

I dug the car out for the first time today. It took about 1/2 hour...the irony is that it started snowing again (for the hour or so that it actually snowed today) right around 1:30, when I decided to dig. Once we tried to drive away the small new sheet of snow made it slippery. The street had a packed path, but it was slick. We got stuck a few more times right by the house, but Dennis got us out. We brought the shovel and had one hairy spot about one block from my parents' but made it there without having to dig out again.

The Ealys gave Finn a stamp set...Ashe experimented with it on Tucker's face.

My mom and dad were very, very happy to have us there. My mom in particular was going stir crazy being in that house. She doesn't mind driving in the snow and drove at the beginning of this craziness, but this was too much even for her. The boys gave her house some life...we got to have Christmas dinner together.

We opened presents. Dennis and Sean shoveled their stairs and walkway. It was a mellow, nice holiday. Again, I was just glad we could offer my parents some relief from this weather.

Merry Christmas!!

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These were taken this morning - Santa brought two Wii games and a Wall-E DVD. Santa way outdid us.

Venturing to The Nutcracker in a Winter Wonderland

We had tickets to Oregon Ballet Theater's production of The Nutcracker yesterday. If the weather ended up too bad, we figured we didn't HAVE to go, but since we knew we could get there by MAX we decided to do it. The light rail line is about nine blocks from our house. We walked there and rode it downtown. It was not very crowded to town, but on the way home (around 6 p.m.) it was very crowded. At that time, three trains came within five minutes of each other and every single one was NYC subway-style standing.

The Nutcracker was beautiful. The Prima Ballerina in the performance was amazing. The boys were definitely more into it for the first act. Dennis - being the opera and symphony lover - was the one who initially suggested we go. It was a surprisingly easy outing, and sort of relaxing. We had some dinner afterward and went home.

It was nice to venture out of the house and get our last Christmas present and have a family day.