sisters from different mothers

Funny thing how one of the most important aspects of our family life for the past 10 months has not yet made it into the blog.

In January we embarked on a "nanny share" adventure with our good friends, the Taylors. Their daughter, Alice, is 15 months older than Lucy, so she's 2 1/2. She is a sweetheart, and I can't imagine a better companion for our daughter. The girls spend 28 hours a week together, with their nanny Megan. Two days a week at our house, two at the Taylors'. They go to Bounce (gymnastics), library storytime, the park, the petting zoo... They are like siblings - sometimes they don't share well, and sometimes they run around the house shrieking with laughter about something only they can understand.

It has been an amazing and rewarding experience sharing childcare with another family. It has required all of us to hone our communication skills, improve our calendaring abilities, and keep our houses cleaner than we otherwise would do.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend an hour with the girls after Megan left, and we went for a walk in Liam and Milo's old dualie stroller. I had forgotten what hard work it is to push two kids in that thing! And even though it was just for an hour, I re-appreciated (without nostalgia) the days when I had two small boys. Lucy will not grow up with a sibling close in age (thanks to Joel's recent "procedure") and I am so grateful for this time she has with Alice. Their sibling-esque relationship brings a dimension to her life that she would otherwise never know.

deschutes

We spent last weekend at a friend's cabin on Central Oregon's Deschutes River. No cell phones, no wifi, no responsibilities. Just good friends, great food, a beautiful river...

...a tire swing...
(did I mention good friends?)...

...some sweet moments...

...and three on three tennis in the weeds...
...with good friends.
A weekend that reminds us once again why we love being Oregonians.

Thanks for the photos Jess!

tomatoes!

We are overrun with tomatoes.

Cherry tomatoes, romas, heirloom, beefsteak, plum... they have invited a fruit fly invasion into our kitchen, and even though I thought I'd never say this, we're getting a little tired of caprese salads and BLTs on the menu.
So Joel and I stayed up late the other night and canned them. The rows of sterilized jars and piles of blanched fruit always cause a wave of nostalgia to wash over me - many childhood days were spent putting food by with my mom and sister.

We used pickyourown.com for instructions

First we blanched the tomatoes and the skins really do slide off with ease. (For everyone who knows me well, you know that this was the hardest part for me - getting my bare hands covered with tomato juice and pulp...)
Then we packed the jars, added some lemon juice, and processed them for 40 minutes.

And voila! Twelve lovely jars of tomatoes to bring some summertime into the rainy winter months.

ten

Somehow it feels like a blurry picture of a child zooming past on roller skates is very apropos for a report on a tenth birthday. My oldest child is ten years old: a whole decade, double digits.

Liam is growing into himself, becoming more sweet and interesting day by day. Perhaps spurred by this milestone birthday, Joel and I have been talking a lot about the person Liam is becoming. This smart, polite child with a sly sense of humor and lovely smile is a triumph for us in a lot of ways.

Liam was a challenging toddler and preschooler. Even into Kindergarten, we agonized about his education and his future because he seemed to have so many obstacles to overcome. As a baby, he bit other kids. As a preschooler he refused to participate in most activities and acted out daily toward his teachers and classmates. And now? Now you'd never know that we went through those struggles together. Now he is self-assured and self-aware. True, he tends to hold back and observe at first, but when he's comfortable he dives right in - to a conversation, a game or a project. He has a group of close friends, and while he does better one-on-one, he can hang in a group too. He's introverted and intense, but loves to tell jokes and make people laugh. He reads at a 9th grade level, and is a starting player on his soccer team this fall.

But isn't this the rollercoaster of parenting? One minute you think your kid won't survive preschool, and the next day he's in fourth grade and you're watching him walk into a new classroom in a new school without a care in the world. And the ride is so worth it when, on the night of his birthday, he crawls in bed with you and says, "if I ever am reincarnated [another story] I hope I have a mom as nice as you..."

We were supposed to go to Fall Creek to celebrate Liam's birthday with his friends, but had to settle for SkateWorld when it rained.

Instead of a cake this year Liam wanted to take his friends to Prince Puckler's for ice cream.

But of course, per tradition, he requested Gramma's angel food cake for his family party.

And on his actual birthday (Sept 7) we went on a family bike ride along the river with Liam on his new bike and Lucy in the Burley trailer.

facelift

We're doing a lot of organizing around here. Cleaning out drawers and closets and pencil bins. Inventorying the supply of jeans and soccer socks. Back to school time always sends me into a tizzy of schedules and organizational schemes. And this blog was starting to weigh on me. Too dark, to cluttered. So we're simplifying things here too. New look, same great taste.

a day at the dunes

In the spirit of squeezing out every last drop of summertime, we spent last Saturday at the dunes near Carter Lake. Our friends Jill, Scott and Syndey came down from Seattle (on their own last hurrah tour before joining the foreign service in a few short months), and provided us with just the excuse we needed to play in the sand for a day.

Jill said this picture captures quintessential boyhood. I agree.

Lucy loved the dunes.

We realized that even though we only live an hour away,

it was her first trip to the beach.

Even though I don't see her enough as it is, I will miss my friend Jill when they move to who knows where next year...

Photo credit to Jill and Scott - thanks!