Harvest Time

The Pumpkin Harvest at Grandma's House

The kids had a great time during October. From showing off costumes and harvesting pumpkins and Grandma and Grandpa's house to a Pumpkin Patch fieldtrip and Trick-or-Treating, there was plenty for them to do.

Andrew even scored on Garry's birthday. Garry didn't know what he wanted so he asked for an Electricity kit to do with Andrew.

Here are a few more pics:

Roll over images to view captions.

"Bee. Hurt. Eye."

As far as I can tell, poor little Emily got stung by a bee yesterday just beneath her right eye.

My sister-in-law and I were eating lunch with our kids at a pier along the waterfront outside OMSI yesterday. Everyone was running around, playing and having a good time when all of a sudden Emily let out a scream and ran to me. It took half a minute for me to look at her eye because she was fiercely rubbing it but when I did I found something that may have been the stinger and a little red spot.

Within a few minutes though, her eye swelled up and turned purple like a black eye. The black eye kind of threw us off, making us think she could have hit something. But she wasn't near anything eye-level when she started crying and we didn't hear her bang into anything--and were quite close to her when it happened. So, we don't know for certain.

I had some Benadryl in the car so ran out to get that. At the car, I called my sister-in-law to see how Emily was doing. "Totally fine!" She had stopped crying and was playing happily.

Her eye is still quite swollen especially when I haven't iced it for awhile. And, she rubs it when the antihistamine wears off but is otherwise happy.

The advice nurse I spoke to on the phone thinks the black eye was caused by her rubbing the effected area. Apparently, it can bruise easily. I guess the swelling should start going down in a day or so.

It was so cute after it happened. We were talking about what could have happened to her--mosquito, bee, or maybe she hit something. Emily broke from her crying long enough to tell me, "Bee. Hurt. Eye."

Garry taught her to buzz like a bee now and it is pretty cute watching her buzz with her poor little swollen eye.

In Loving Memory

My little brother, Scott, passed away this weekend. I'm so saddened by the news. Here's a picture of him with his dogs. We miss you so much!

Mass Transit

The Portland Streetcar

After going on a couple "cable cars" in Israel last summer, Andrew has been asking to go on one ever since.

Today I took the kids on a mass transit adventure. We started near our home and travelled into downtown Portland via the Max. We stopped in at Finnegan's toy store where we bought some stickers.

We then transferred to the Portland Streetcar where we headed south towards the SW Waterfront. Andrew didn't learn our final destination until we got there: the Portland Aerial Tram that links the base of Marquam Hill with OHSU.

The kids loved the trip up and down the hill (3 min. each way).

Shortly after getting on the streetcar to return home, Emily fell asleep in her stroller. So, Andrew and I hopped off and meandered to the waterfront where we enjoyed some ice cream and the fountain.

We caught the Max downtown and headed home.

It was a great way to enjoy some of the first good weather we've had this year.

Roll over images to view captions.

Safety Tip

I had this little worksheet to do with Andrew. I worded the question to Andrew a bit differently than it reads below. I asked, "If you were going to go outside in the dark, which of these would you take with you to help keep you safe?"

The answer was obvious to him: the teddy bear.

After rephrasing the question to him a few more time, I decided I didn't have the heart to tell him the teddy bear isn't going to do anything for him in the event of a nocturnal emergency.

He doesn't need to grow up that soon.

Pirates!

I've recently been learning a rapid e-Learning tool called Articulate that I purchased for a freelance project. Andrew enjoys watching me make courses and said he wanted to make something. I asked him what he wanted to make and he said a treasure map. (We had been reading about pirates.)

Click the link below to view Andrew's treasure map activity. Make sure your volume is up ... We were able to line up some excellent voiceover talent!

> Andrew's Pirate Treasure Hunt

Why We Haven't Been in Cyberspace

We have had a pretty hectic couple of months--which is why we haven't had time to blog.

It all started around the time of our last post when our furnace started giving us problems. This went on for several weeks, with troubleshooting off an on, until we finally had it replaced.

We also went through a few rounds of illness with the kids.

Garry's car was giving us trouble right around the time we need to take it to the DEQ for renewal. We think it is fixed now. At any rate, we passed the DEQ inspection.

Then, almost three weeks ago, my grandma, Sally, passed away. She had been living with my parents and we knew the time was close. We are sad that she passed away but happy that she is no longer in pain. She was an amazing example of someone who had constant concern for others and was so giving. She lived next to our family my entire childhood so I have many early and fond memories of her. Her personality was one of a kind. We will miss her so much.

I will post more about her on another post.