Day 273: Hiding in Plain Sight

September 30

I'm not sure this picture really needs an explanation.

Day 272: On Campus

September 29

My chemistry class is a hybrid course, meaning it's online lectures and an on-campus lab.  This evening was my first lab.  I don't know who the guy in the foreground is, but I think he personifies the typical college student.

Day 271: Bowling!

September 28

We took our 6th Grade Girl Scouts bowling today.  They had a blast, and every single one of them got at least one strike! (Granted, we had the lane bumpers up, but still...)

Day 270: Still Down

September 27

Yesterday it said "Blackboard opens Tuesday morning."  By Tuesday afternoon, this is what it said.  Someone at the college is having a really bad day.

Day 269: The System is Down

September 26

I was supposed to start school today, but when I went to login to the online system, this is what I found.

Day 268: Wheeeeee!!!

September 25

(I know it's blurry, but it was the best of the bunch.)

The girls discovered a new extreme sport today: stair sledding!  We pulled the old crib mattress down out of the closet to get to something else, and one thing led to another, and before I knew it they were hurtling down the stairs at light speed, shrieking the whole way.  They offered to let me have a turn, but, alas, I think I'm too old for stair sledding.

And I just had to include a clip of this adventure:

Day 267: Ladybug, Ladybug

September 24

Chris's brother and his girlfriend came down from Seattle to spend the day with us, so we went to Laurelhurst Park for a picnic lunch.  The ladybugs were everywhere!  This is not even half of what the girls caught.

Day 266: Love You Forever

September 23

I love this book, but I have never, EVER been able to read it without crying.

Day 265: Pears

September 22

I spent all day canning these.  Good thing I finally got around to it, because clearly they weren't going to last much longer!

(side note: just 100 days to go!)

Day 264: Farewell, Shark Teeth

September 21

Ellie lost her second tooth today, with the somewhat overenthusiastic help of her big sisters, who tied one end of a string around the tooth and the other to a doorknob (this is not the first time this method has been used to remove teeth in this house.)  Both her bottom front grown-up teeth grew in behind the baby teeth, so we've been calling her "shark tooth" for a few months, but with the loss of this tooth, the shark teeth are a thing of the past.

Day 263: Goggles

September 20

Classes start next week, so today I picked up my school supplies.  I'm taking chemistry this term, and therefore got to purchase these awesome goggles.

Day 262: Guard Duty

September 19

Our wonderful school counselor broke her collarbone yesterday and is out of commission for a while, so I'm taking over her morning crossing guard duties for the week.

Day 261: Calendar

September 18

I almost forgot to take a picture!  This is my calendar, on a rare day with no events (the dots under the date mean something is happening.)  I love "no event" days!

Day 260: New Bike!

September 17

Remember this?  After a week of begging in desperation, we were finally able to take Lexi to pick out a new bike.  Fortunately for the budget (which didn't include a new bike this year), her favorite was also the least expensive!  She wasted no time in riding it, even through the parking lot to the car.

Day 259: Art Appreciation

September 16

No school for the 6th graders today, so my friend Donna and I took a few of them downtown to the Portland Art Museum.  We had a great time!

Day 258: Seize the Day!

September 15

Newsies dance party!

Day 257: Second First Day of School

September 14

My baby started kindergarten today.  She was up at 7am, bouncing up and down with excitement and ready to get the show on the road.  She had a great day!

Day 256: Shopping Bird

September 13

Ellie and I spotted this bird browsing the lotion aisle at Walmart this morning.  I hope he found what he was looking for.

Day 255: Biker Gang

September 12

A mysterious biker gang showed up at our house this evening.  One member (of the two-person gang) is someone our family knows well, and who is well-known in our school community.  Any guesses as to who it might be?

Hint

Day 254: Broken Bike

September 11

Remember this?  Lexi has just, in the last few weeks, become really confident on it.  She's been planning all weekend to ride to school tomorrow.  Today Vicki even did a practice run with her.  Well, this evening she was riding down the hill on our street and somehow lost control.  We think the chain slipped somehow, and since the bike has pedal brakes, this rendered them useless.  Not good on a hill.  She slammed into a fence and totaled the bike.  She's okay, but sore (we were afraid at first that she'd cracked some ribs when she hit the fence after flying over the handlebars), and very disappointed that she won't be riding to school anytime soon.  We keep telling her there are better way to go about it if she wanted a new bike!

Day 253: Regular or Polish Dog?

September 10

I volunteered tonight at a local farm's movie night.  Admission and popcorn was free, a full meal was $1.50, snowcones and candy bars were $1 each, and all the proceeds went towards Outdoor School for our 6th graders!  Here is my good friend Rachel (sorry, Rachel!  It was the only one that turned out!), who was my partner in the hot dog line.  FYI, Polish dogs are spicy.  I did not know this before tonight.

Day 252: Bikes

September 9

Four of these bikes belong to Vicki and her middle school friends (the other two bikes belong to the younger brother and sister of one of her friends.)  Middle school gets out 20 minutes before the elementary school, so they biked over to meet up with parents and younger siblings.

Day 251: Crosswalk

September 8

On our way to pick up Lexi.  Only a couple more days and I'll be forever making this walk by myself.

Day 250: Kindy Assessment

September 7

Ellie had her kindergarten assessment today.  She's been looking forward to this for awhile, so she was a little disappointed that it only took 15 minutes, but it's one giant step closer to actually starting school!

Day 249: First First Day of School

September 6

The 6th grader (Middle School - oh my!) and the 4th grader started today.  Kindergarten isn't until next week, so we'll have two First Days this year!

Day 248: Art in the Pearl

September 5

Every year there's a big art fair in downtown Portland over Labor Day weekend.  The artwork and craftsmanship on display is amazing, but the girls' favorite part is always painting the car.

Day 247: Quick Grandparent Visit

September 4

Chris's brother and his girlfriend moved to Seattle this weekend, and his parents drove up to lend a hand.  On their way home they stopped by for a quick visit.  We're really excited now to have family just 3 hours away!

Day 246: Beauty

September 3

The last four years we've spent the Saturday before Labor Day with friends at one of our favorite places, Trillium Lake, on the slopes of Mt. Hood.  Today we set up camp at 8:30am, and I took this picture just before we pulled out at 8:00pm.  The weather was perfect, the companionship was wonderful, and we're already planning for next year!

Day 245: Missing Tooth!

September 2

I made it home just in time to see my baby lose her first tooth!

Day 244: Biking in Seaside

September 1

We capped off the trip with a tour of Seaside on a bicycle built for 9! (And also one built for 6 - there were 13 of us!)