Family Newsletter August 5, 2009

I am going to start posting our family newsletters so they will be included in our blog books.

Hello Family,

I only have five more minutes until Dora is over so I need to crank this letter out. Oh no! She is already singing the “We Did It” song. To the point…Top to bottom…

Steve- has been busy learning and training with the new job. He has been working more hours as each week passes. But he is glad to have the job and a good boss. I think he will do very well here and I am sure things will be less busy as he learns the routine of things.
Other than work he has been busy planning our weekends making sure they are full of new Oregon adventures. The past four weekends we have been to the beach, Tillamook Cheese Factory, Jones Creek, the Rose Gardens, Mt. Tabor, and downtown riding the train and going to the Rose Quarter Fountains. When we got home this last weekend I said, “I feel like I just ran a 10K.” He laughed and said, “I guess that’s being 8 months pregnant.” So apparently it wasn’t that much of a workout, I am just feeling the effects of pregnancy and being out of shape! I am glad he likes to get out and plan fun things for us to do. I am a lucky girl.

Me- Since the kids have not been in any rec-center activities (because we have not had our residency cards) we have done a lot of exploring ourselves. We have been to many of the parks and made weekly library and story time trips. We are starting to get into a schedule and I have been having them earn their keep around here too. On Mondays I have been giving them a checklist of things we need to get done around the house and if we accomplish it all we go to a park, the library, the dollar store, or the like. We all work together and it has been really great for all of us and I have been really proud of how hard they work to get everything on the list checked off. I’m amazed at how easy it is to get them to scrub behind the toilet as long as they are excited about the end reward. Hopefully this will last!

Hudson- I can’t remember where the last letter left off, but big news for Hudson is learning how to ride a bike. He has been asking me to take off the training wheels for awhile and I finally did it. Steve got him started on a Saturday and then he wanted to practice more when Steve was at work. I gave in and I am sure I was quite a sight to be seen jogging along his bike (don’t picture it). He eventually was too fast for me and I just crossed my fingers and said a silent prayer that he wouldn’t kill himself as I watched him ride unstably down the street, (almost hitting cars or running into curbs). One morning we went to a large grass field to practice turning. He was practicing turning around trees and at one point he was way out there and he was going straight into the tree really fast. I yelled, “Turn! Turn!” Well, he ran right into the tree. I did not let him see me laugh, but it was so funny. I was surprised he wanted to get back on (of course after a good cry).
Other things…Hudson is so excited to ride a school bus in September, he tells me daily things he wants for Christmas and he has constant questions about how things work…for example here are some of the questions I have been fielding as of late, “Is there air in space? , “How do we talk?”, “How does the stove work?”, “How did that baby get inside of you?”, “How does the baby get out of you?”, “What would happen if we didn’t have a skeleton?”, “How do you make tools?” Needless to say google, discovery channel, and YouTube have been my good friends as of late (except for with the baby questions, no YouTube on How Babies are Made).

Sadie- Sadie loves to take care of us. She often helps Everett get dressed or brush his teeth. In fact I just sent her upstairs to help Everett get dressed and she said, “sure”. She loves taking care of Everett and you can often hear her comfort him when he is crying by saying, “Everett, that’s okay. Come on bud.” They play together a lot and they play really well. She somehow gets him to play dress up with her (much to Steve’s chagrin) and he often gets her to play trains with him. It is really nice to have them be such good friends.
Sadie is also very excited for school. I just have to figure something out for her. Hopefully I will be able to get a joy school started or something!

Everett- Can be described in one word. Trains. I need not say more, but I will. His obsession with trains continues. This picture tells all…
This is us on the downtown street train. He loved it and has been asking me daily to go ride the train.
He is also a little comedian and can always get us all to have a good laugh at the dinner table.

That’s us in a nutshell. Congrats to Adam and Kasey, I cannot wait to squeeze little Matthew’s cheeks.

-Steve, Natalee, Hudson, Sadie, Everett, and ?? Give us some ideas.

We've Been...

playing at parks...



touring Portland...

(Everett all smiles on the street train)

(Below: Outside Pinnock Mansion)

(Below: Jones Creek)
(Rose Garden)

Shopping at Costco...

(I'm glad no one knows us yet here,

there were plenty of "you've got your hands full" comments)

and learning how to ride a bike...

Go Hudson!

This is a beautiful place we live and there is so much more to explore! We are enjoying our laid back weekends. Steve pointed out to me we have not had weekends together for a long time, either I was working or he was studying! It has been really nice.