Catch up on....July

Yes yes, my blogging has taken a complete nose dive. I've blogged half as much this year as I did last year. Blah. So guess what? I'm doing a recap going back until oh......July. June was about when things came to a screeching halt, so July seems like a good place to start.

I blogged briefly about our start to July. Aiden taking a three-day baseball class.

Me and the boys getting burnt to a crisp no matter how much sunscreen we applied. I swear someone HAD to have switched out the sunscreen with oil.... Nope. I'm just that pale.

Any guesses on where my shorts ended?

For 4th of July, we headed out to Rockaway to spend the holiday with Laura and Kevin. It was a nice break and spending a few days on the beach was super fun! I bought a sport tent to keep myself out of the sun and it worked! We had a yummy BBQ at Laura and Kevin's, we watched fireworks over Rockaway Beach, we spent lots of time in the hotel pool and hot tub, and we flew kites and played a little baseball on the beach.

Nathan started gymnastics and LOVED it! This may be something we continue at a later time. He's quite the nimble little gymnast.

We bought our minivan (which I'm still totally in love with, by the way. Best car ever!), and said goodbye to our Subaru. John drove it to the junkyard and told me, "You know, I think something might be wrong with that car's transmission". Oh, you mean the violent shaking and growling whenever I tried to drive wasn't normal?

We got to watch the Hillsboro Air Show from the comfort of our front yard. There are benefits to living right by an airport.

Our New York friend Charlie came to visit. We treated him to a "country experience" by taking him to a gun range. As we pulled in, he looked around and said, "People are just....walking around with....GUNS. And no one is stopping them!!". If you recall, we treated him to his very first hiking experience last summer and told him to eat berries in the wild (he refused). Charlie is a computer science and robotics teacher for "elite" (translation: famous) NY families, so he really isn't used to this kind of thing. We thoroughly enjoy shaking him to his core. Although this last July is going to be hard to top next year. Especially since we were standing at a gun range with a full air show happening over our heads. In Charlie's words, "It was perfect. But it's the last time I'll ever do anything like that again!".

We also spent lots and lots of time walking around the trails at the library, feeding baby ducks and finding big sticks. We also discovered a duck with one leg. The boys were very concerned and I had to discourage them from attempting to bring the duck home with us.

And that is July in a nutshell. Busy, but it's got nothing on what we did in August!

When You See It.....

We got the boys some fun straws that they could put together in various ways, making double straws and things like that. John wanted a picture of them using the straws they'd made, so I snapped this with my phone. As I went back to look at it, I noticed the little addition in the background. A very desperate, wide-eyed PomChi peering in through the sliding glass door. 

"I want to use the fun straw too!"

It gave us a good laugh. And then we let him come in from the rain.

Chaos

I like my life simply scheduled, fairly underwhelming, and calm. I am not the type who enjoys being busy or always out and about (I really dislike driving). I like having - at an absolute minimum - one day per week where I don't have to go anywhere. This school term is shaking all of that up and rocking me to my core.

Everything is in chaos. I'm gone a lot. I don't have a handle on anything. And for those of you who were over at my house last Saturday and saw upstairs, you got a pretty good visual as to how insane things are at the moment. So embarrassing. The one year I decide to not stress myself out about cleaning upstairs for a birthday party is the one year Aiden decides everyone needs a tour. Thank you, child.

Anywho, this term is absolutely bat-poo crazy, but there is an aspect of it that I am super grateful about. This term includes my very first practicum (internship). I managed to get in at the library just down the street from us and I am loving every single moment of it. It's the 5th busiest library in Oregon and I'm getting a good handle on what that means. They are being so wonderful with training me like I'm an actual employee and providing me with this fantastic opportunity to have this experience under my belt for future employment. Everyone is helpful and fun, and I feel so comfortable there. The time is really going too fast and I know I'll miss it once it's over. I do plan on staying on as a volunteer once per week after this term is over. I just can't imagine walking away from it all once the practicum time is done. I'm there four times a week, so I'm fairly immersed into the place. Most of those days, I still walk back to my car trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'm doing actual library work. It feels so right and I can't wait until I can do this somewhere permanently.

The practicum is definitely the most enjoyable part of this term. I'm not having as much fun with driving to North Portland every Monday at rush hour to go to a four hour class on how to design bulletin boards (I'm not joking. I wish I was joking.). That's after doing my Monday stint at the library, grabbing the boys from school, and immediately taking them to the babysitter. Then there's the online course that requires more library service time, but it has to be at a different library (because I have time for that!). Nathan is taking piano lessons, Aiden is in Lego Robotics, and starting in two weeks, they'll both be in bowling. And I'm in dance class again, which definitely adds to my schedule but is good for my soul.

So that's how things stand. Not my favorite way to live, but I'm keeping in mind that it will slow down come the second week of December. I'm not even going to think about the fact that next term will probably look almost identical.

Happy 8th Birthday!

Our dear little (?) Aiden turned eight years old today. The mind boggles at how this happened, but he is indeed an eight year old. An eight year old with the reading level of a kid twice his age, the curiosity of a true scientist, the audacity of his father, and the sense of humor of his mother (uh oh on the last two). When "they" say it goes fast, they're not kidding. I'm pretty sure he was four just a few days ago. 

Or this size. Oh, those chubby cheeks. He did like to eat.

He's always been one for adventure. He's a complete thrill seeker and loves new experiences. He tried a "big kid" ride at Oaks Park a few weeks ago (those cages that flip you upside down) and LOVED it.

He's also always loved animals. My grandfather used to have a wolf (it has since passed away) and during a visit to their house, Aiden walked right up to this huge canine and started petting him softly. No fear. Of course the wolf was a big ol' softy and was very careful around tiny Aiden, but it was amazing to watch.

Aiden loves to laugh. He's discovered comic books like Calvin and Hobbes, the Far Side, and Foxtrot. It's so funny to hear him laughing hysterically after he's been sent to bed. He's had a fantastic, squeal-y belly laugh since the moment he discovered how to laugh and it brightens my day every time I hear it.

He could also live in the water. When he was an infant, he would hold his tongue out to catch water droplets whenever we were outside in the rain. It was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

He takes many things very seriously. He's a worrier and he likes to be prepared (I wonder where he got that.... Sorry, kid). Lately he's been obsessing over earthquake safety and has kept himself awake at night concerned that an earthquake is going to hit while he's sleeping. We've had to make a lot of promises regarding our family's personal disaster plans.

But he can also be a complete goof: "I've been run through with the pirate sword!"

As we wrap up his 8th birthday, here are some things we'd like to remember about Aiden:

• Favorite color: Blue
• Favorite food: Calamari
• Favorite drink: Root Beer
• Best friend: Kevan
• Favorite book: The Polar Express
• Favorite movie: Despicable Me
• Favorite sport: Soccer
• Favorite place: Disneyland