One week left...

Pre-k for Ethan has one week left to go before summer break.  Last week they had their Spring Fling concert, which was full of nursery rhymes in English, sigh language and Spanish and they did a great job! I have a video but can't get it to upload so I will keep trying.  Ms. Horne has been an excellent teacher for Ethan and we appreciate her very much.  This coming week they are letting each of the children in the class who have summer birthdays celebrate their birthday early with their classmates.  Ethan's school birthday party will be tomorrow so he is very excited to get to take "pupcakes," he has always called them pupcakes, to celebrate.  Then for the final day on Friday they are having a bubble festival, which should be great fun.  We are looking forward to having a great summer!

 Best Friends Forever having some sweet treats after their program.

Mid-life crisis?!?

 Jeff and I were joking last weekend about what his mid-life crisis would be...three days later he calls me while leaving work and passes a car for sale on the side of the road.  He test drove it the next morning and yesterday we went and picked it up from Salem.  It is a 1971 MGB with a soft and hard top.  It runs but in definite need of some TLC and a new paint job, which we wanted a fixer-up-er anyway so it will be perfect. 

It apparently is considered an antique vehicle through the State of Oregon (haha, which apparently Jeff is considered antique as well as it is a year younger than he is) and has a license plate that you only have to pay a one time fee for. 


And just for laughs, I downloaded this picture with the car pictures, who knew Batman mowed lawns?!?  

Finally an Otter

Ethan has had plenty of time being a Penguin and finally today he passed the class and became an Otter.  He has really improved his swimming skills and we are really proud of him.  

Tulips...tulips...everywhere we looked.  This past weekend was AWESOME weather.  We hit 80 degrees on Sunday and very close to that on Saturday and took full advantage of being outside.  Saturday morning we took Grammie to the Woodburn Tulip Festival, her first time, and were amazed as always with the beautiful colors abound.

We also went to Saturday market, planted our garden, and took our first family bike ride of the year.  We are hoping for many more sunny days in the near future..not likely living in Oregon, but there is always hope.

Playing catch-up

Life has been a bit busy the last couple of weeks with starting my new job so I haven't had much spare time.  Today was my first day on my own and I think I am finally starting to feel comfortable and did pretty good.  As I haven't ridden the MAX or bus in many years, commuting has been a bit entertaining at times but overall has been good and glad to not have to pay to park.

Ethan has been having a fun time with Grammie and we are all hoping that the rain will start to let up some as we are all anxious to be playing outside.

The weekend before I started my new job, while Jeff was driving my mom to Portland, Ethan and I took a second adventure riding the bus/MAX/Tram to make sure I new the route to get to work.  Ethan loved the adventure and we took a picture while riding down the tram.  Saturday/Sunday market is now back open as well so we stopped for an elephant ear on our way home, one of Ethan's favs.

For St. Patrick's day Ethan came home with his Leprechaun costume mask that he had made in school (see previous posting).  He then decided that he needed to make some additional masks/costumes and has since been obsessed with the tape, scissors, cheap paper plates, lunch sacks, notebook paper, and pipe cleaners.  We have had many, many creations the last 3 weeks.

 Here are some of his artistic creations...he has some great skills and really puts a lot of thought into his creations,

 

including this car that he built with Playdoh earlier today...again, lots of thought put into all the details of building it.

 

Luck of the Irish!!

St. Patrick's Day fun at school for Ethan and then the Shamrock 5k run for me today...legs are tired but glad that I did it. 

Life will be a changin'...

The past nearly 5 years of being a SAHM/self-employed medical transcriptionist so I could be home with Ethan have been a great adventure and one I will truly miss, however, as he will be starting kindergarten in September, and hopefully full-day depending on what school we decide to put him in, I decided that I wanted a change of pace...along with the help of one of the transcription companies I work for no longer having work for me beginning in April...so I began looking and applied for some positions with OHSU, aka "the hill," aka the university hospital in the Portland area.  Thankfully and surprisingly, I got a call for a phone interview much faster than I was expecting and this past week I went for an interview, a 2nd interview with the staff, and on Thursday got an offer.  Even though it was much earlier than I was expecting to do this, I figured I needed to jump at the chance if there was an opening so I accepted the position and will be doing front office work for a clinic on the OHSU campus.  Unfortunately, life will definitely have many changes upcoming and I am very much appreciative of my mom's willingness to come spend the next few months with us and taking care of Ethan so that I could do this.  Ethan is extremely excited that Grammie is coming and they will have a very fun summer together, one I am sad to be missing.  

New sleeping digs

Ethan is very excited to get to sleep in his new loft bed tonight.  He is growing up quickly and has a small room so we are making the most of the space we do have. It will be a great bed for him, the only down fall so far has been trying to make the bed, which will definitely be a workout for me. *Update*  The first night was a success.  He told me this morning that he slept awesome. 

Soaking up the sun!!

Today we had to take advantage of a perfect SUNNY 60 degree day and Peyton, Olivia and Nicole joined us for a picnic at the park.  The boys played, Nicole and I chatted, and Olivia was just her cute self... the only way to make it a more perfect day would have been for both Nicole and I not to have to go to work but it was fun while it lasted. 

 BFF's...they act just like brothers.

 I got my arm workout in today while pushing both boys in the swings.

And tonight was a beautiful full moon....which also means the crazies are in full craziness...but a worth a picture anyhow.

Green eggs and Ham..Sam I am

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! 

They have been learning about Dr. Seuss at school this week and will celebrate his birthday at school tomorrow so of course we had to have Green Eggs as a tribute.

 
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose." ~Dr. Seuss