Sunday, October 24, 2010

Day at Silver Falls

Well once again, time has gotten away from me and this blog has suffered. I am very behind in posting. In mid-August, we went with Grandpa Gordon (my natural father) to Silver Falls State Park. There are a number of beautiful waterfalls and hiking trails for nature lovers. We had a yummy picnic lunch and enjoyed a wonderful day together.





Gorgeous



Grandpa G and N reading the history



All of us



Grandpa and the monkeys




This was as close as we could get to this one


Checkin out the riverbed




Me and my girl



Woohoo!



Pops and I



I love this photo



All tuckered out

Beautiful


Grazing deer by the road



K flexing her muscles


Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Tic-kled pink

So I have a whole bunch of catching up to do on some of our late summer early fall doings. I will try hard to get to that this weekend. Hubby is busy hunting for the first time and so we're crossing our fingers he brings home a little venison. I say it like that because the thought of him killing a deer is not something I want to think about. We say pork, bacon, and ham...but not pig? We say beef, steak, or hamburger...but not cow? Then there's chicken...guess there's no getting around that one...but I digress.

It's been a busy month since I've been back to work. School is well under way and keeping me on my toes. Between juggling teaching my classes and helping my own two monkeys, it's enough to make my head spin. I've been trying hard to balance the two better. I've only stayed late once so far, not counting the Curriculum Night that was required. It has helped me to be a better Mom, but I think my work has suffered a little. Every year since I began teaching, the months of autumn months are sprinkled with many late nights to get things up and running in my classroom. Not so this year. I'm learning how to "be okay" with not finishing certain things, however I fall behind faster. Ugh. Definitel still working on that learning curve.

I'll work on updating our summer doings in another blog, but I do want to update on my kids. They are in 4th and 2nd grade now. Both are doing well so far in school. N just celebrated his tenth birthday (will post pictures soon) and K learned that she doesn't have to wear her eye patch anymore for her vision therapy. A year of that was more than enough. She still needs her glasses, but her amblyopia seems to have subsided. I took her to the neurologist today for similar concerns we had about N a couple years ago.

DH thought I was just overly concerned and neurotic, but my Mommy radar was kicking in. Thank you Jenny McCarthy for telling us to listen to the mother warrior instinct. The doctor confirmed my suspicions. She does indeed have a tic disorder like N, albeit a mild case. Basically, they both have a variation of Tourette's, but not the full-blown kind that most people think of. Both are aware that they have these tendencies, but are learning to cope with their tics. It is genetic in one side of my family, so there you go. My aunt said my cousin eventually outgrew his tics, so there's definitely hope. To be honest, this doesn't define my children in the least. I'm tickled pink by every quirk that makes them unique. It is one very small part of each of them and helps make them who they are...fabulous and funtastic kids!

Wordless Wednesday

For his 10th birthday, my parents took N to his first U of O Ducks game at Autzen Stadium. It's my alma mater, so I couldn't be prouder of my little duckling! They even handily beat Stanford 52-31.