Even snowier snow

Today, I tried to get out with the protege, and couldn't make it with a running start. In fact the chains, the good kind, snapped a link and broke from the left wheel. I tried to put them back on, and the neighbors attempted to tow me up the hill with 4 wheel-drive. No go, and the chains on the right were thrown in the process. We are officially stuck. So. Here are some more pics:








clapping and yelling "MORE!!!!"





















Such a hard worker.





















Somebody's ready.

When the snow plow gets stuck.....

So we parked at the top of our hill at the mailbaoxes like we do every year so that we can avoid the steep hill where we always get stuck in the snow. Well this year the snow plow got stuck up top trying to get around our cars. So he called the County and they are threatening to tow our cars if we don't move them from there "illegal" spot. I don't mind moving the car at all to help get the snow plow unstuck, but he didn't have to sick the authorities on us.

We have at least 3 feet and counting. I shoveled walkways to the wood, the garage, the exercise room, all doors and down to the driveway. All this in preperation for our company that will probably not come.

I was supposed to work today and tomorrow but I just didn't feel it. So I took the day off. I just need to put in 3 days of work over the next 2 week. I will probably put it off until the last minute.

Well Greyson and I are sure happy for our elk and half a pig in our freezer. We have been having some very tasty bacon sandwhiches the last couple days. We are looking forward to a Christmas ham but don't know if we will have anyone to share it with.

-Mel

snowy snowy snow

This was 2 days ago














Our Front porch hand rail.














Our Driveway lights




















Our bedroom balcony




















guess the make and model and win at least 2 cats.

Did I ask for snow?

Well down it comes. We are at about a foot and counting. Tomorrow we are supposed to get up to another foot of snow. Greyson bummed a ride with our neighbor down the hill to the little store to pick up some milk. We really are running low on food but it may be awhile before we venture out that far. I plan on hitting the slopes tomorrow. By that I mean the hill leading down from the mailboxes where I can get in a couple sledding runs with the neighbor kids. The Dean's are also going to visit tomorrow and I hear mention of pork??

I hope everyone is staying warm. Greyson is complaining that our wood stove is a bit too efficient.

Time for bed.
-Mel

Finally some real snow

After all these forecasts of cold weather and a foot of snow I was upset to just have an inch of slush on the ground. But today we finally had some real snow fall and it actually is sticking. There is only 3 or 4 inches but it was enough to get out with the girls and build a snowman and do a little sledding (I pulled). I hope all of you are enjoying your snow as well. I will post some pictures on the baby blog this evening if possible.
-Mel

Snow??

Of course I am excited about the possibility of snow. I have always loved snow and to this day get excited about the chance to run around outside in the white stuff. And now I have babies to take out with me. We were supposed to go down to the beach this weekend but called it off for fear of not being able to get back up our hill when we returned. It is not so bad getting snowed into our house, but getting snowed out of the house is another issue.

I went and stocked up on a few esentials since snow and freezing temperatures usually means power outages. I am going to run the bath tonight so that we have water for flushing the toliets if it comes to that. You would think that being 5 miles from Bonneville dam would mean that we wouldn't have eletrical problems, but on the contrary we seem to lose power at the drop of the hat.

I wrapped the few presents that we are doing this year; all going to the girls. Everyone says they will like the wrapping paper more then the presents and you are probably right. But we didn't get them a single thing last Christmas so it was time to get them something. I am still not sure what people (family ) are doing this Christmas, but I hope to see as many of them as possible. Greyson promised me a Christmas ham.

Happy Holidays,
Melanie

PS. Mom and Dad... I got my snow tires on.

The full effect

We have started having the "full effect" each night with the babies. In case you don't remember this includes turning on all of the Christmas lights, turning off all other lights and playing Christmas music. We each grab a girl and dance. Samia will go solo with her squat dance technique; it is quite intersting.

Out of a half dozen strands of lights we bought, only one of them actually worked correctly. The others had broken bulbs or didn't blink right. I am very happy with the end effect however.

I have a ton to do at work this week and am trying to cram it in for an early leave on Friday. We are going to the coast with some friends. They have a little girl the same age as Piper and Samia so it works out well.

-Mel

Busy these days

Tired out

Greyson wore me out today with Christmas light shoping and decorating. We only got part of the lights up and plan on finishing the inside tomorrow. We found some pretty real garland at Costco that we are going to put along the stair banister. The babies love the tree but it is outside of their reach on the other side of the baby gate. Time for a movie and then bed.
-Mel

Day two: not much better

I tell you that Greyson is the cause of my weakness. Today he brings me two little girls to watch over my lunch break. We were supposed to go to the playground while Greyson had a meeting with a client. But then he causually mentions that the girls haven't eaten lunch but he brought a bag of raisins and a granola bar. And then the girls looked at me with that "I'm starving look" and before I knew it the three of us where out for a girls lunch. I did enjoy my time with them and go out the door for under $15. To ammend I came home and cooked dinner and then made a pasta salad to take to work tomorrow. So far I am down ~ $45. I will do better. At least my caffine/alcohol/sugary drink abstaining is doing well.

I am in Vancouver working for the rest of the week and that extra drive always wears me out. At least the gas is cheap enough that my reimbursed mileage might make me a few dollars again.

I officially passed two tests I had to take to get my graduate certificate in GIS from PSU. It was a big pain in my neck but it is finally finished.

As you can see I am trying to get a small post in whenever I can. Hope you join me.
-Mel

Day 1 - not so good

So I decided to go back to a healthier, cheaper lifestyle. Christmas is my goal date. So what does that mean, it means:

1. No caffeine, alcohol or other over sugary drinks (trying for just milk and water)
2. No eating junk food (means any fast food, chips, candy etc.)
3. No spending on unnecessary things  (yes this can have grey areas, I am still working on a definition)

 

So I was doing well on all three today.  But then my husband came to visit with the girls.  Which was nice.  But somehow they got back home and had brought my set of keys back with them.  So, since Greyson had to come all the way back into town to deliver keys so I could drive home, he thought we should go eat Mexican food.  So I gave in (a little too easily) and we all went out to eat.  The food was great as normal.  I did eat chips (bad) but didn’t order guacamole, drinks or desert and kept the bill under $35, which seems pretty high for not getting the extras. 

 

So day 1 on my new “program”  was kind of a wash.  I will try better tomorrow. 

 

I got all sorts of unsolicited kisses from Samia today as she took a bath. So sweet. I am working on teaching them “Ho, Ho, Ho”. 

stumbled across this

Long overdue update

I have no good excuse for my long absense from the blog. So I will just get on with my update.

Work: Things are pretty good. I am more or less managing two projects right now and they are both going pretty well. One is a study looking at the impacts of a city drinking water withdrawl on a stream and its impact on the stream temperature. The other is the environmental permitting for a trail system through a waterfront section of openspace in Camas. It is nice to have the responsibility for the projects but I have lost a few nights sleep worry about them.

Babies: So we had Samia trying to walk between Greyson and I. She would take about 2 steps and then dive into our lap. We would clap and say how great she was. Suddenly Piper was like "oh no you don't go giving her all that attention and leaving me out. Un uh sister, I don't think so" (in her soul sister voice). So little Pipe seeing all our excitement crawled right over and showed us all she had for the next hour. She stood right up would walk 6 or 7 steps before falling. She did this over and over, while giggling as she went. She was so proud of herself. Samia is still a bit sick. I saw that the Camas kindergarten class had some strange bug going around; I wonder if Samia got it from Emma since they were together last week.

Life: Life is good. Greyson parents came to visit a couple weeks ago and that was nice. I invited them to come down for Christmas as well. I start to get bummed out this time of year as the sun set earlier and earlier. I think I need to move to a house that isn't in the shadow of a mountain. I think Archer Mountain shaves a good 2 hours off our daily sunshine here. My garden did pitifully this year. The only thing I can grow is squash of one sort or another. I did cook up the zucinni I grew and the girls liked it. I even like it. I still have yet to get a red tomato. I do have about 10 nice, plump green ones.

I saw that PSU had someone give 25 million dollars for establishing a new sustainability program at PSU. I find that almost a tempting subject to get a PhD in. I know they are going to be addressing solar/wind energies.

Well I think I have blabbed on enough for now. Thanks for reading,
-Mel

ummmmm

Hey all. Not much going on here on 9/11. I honestly forgot (gasp) until I read it in another blog. What's going on today? Samia is feeling a little under the weather. I guess there is a small upside to it in that she uncharacteristically likes to cuddle. End of upsides. Piper has noticed an imbalance in the parental attitudes, and it's a little challenging for one of us to address the issue. Piper also insists that she be cuddled, but she feels great and ready to climb, knee, and claw her way around your lap and you can add the afflicted redhead to the resulting list of casualties. Now they sleep, and I wait for the work god to give me a backhand as I write this. Listening to beethoven for baby brains. Alliteration, eh eh??? Good music, but I'm not feeling any growth.

dean family update

Yes!  I’m still using Mel’s address.  But duly noted at some point I will make an account…maybe.

 

We wanted to inform all family of the camping adventure at Timothy Lake- we are going to take the boat and go to the walk-in tent sites- it is nonreservable, so if anyone can head there early let us know.  We will have all the children with us. 

 

Nicholas seems “fine” with school.  He isn’t a real informative about his week- but so far it sounds like all is well.  He seems disappointed or confused that he is in a math “help” class- but his math WASL score was right on the borderline of not passing- so I’m sure it was an automatic for him to get that class and hopefully it will help improve his test taking abilities.

 

Gabriel says he really enjoys his new teachers- he really loves playing football.  He tends to give me a few more details- so I know exactly what is in and how he decorated his locker…that type of kid.  Funny how they are all so different.

 

At the last moment someone did drop from the part-time slot at the preschool- so we were able to switch Kalena to part-time instead of full-time- yeah!  That is a 200 dollar per month savings for us.  She jumped right into preschool- no problem.  She doesn’t share much- but I have visited each day during my prep for 5 minutes- to see what kind of things they are discussing…then ask her questions about the days of the week or the weather..etc.

 

Emma’s first day of kindergarten went well- when the bell to start class rang she told her dad- “you can go now”….:) she was quite detailed also with her accounts of the gingerbread creations and the activities of her first days of school.  She doesn’t like walking from the babysitter’s car into the school- but I think she will get used to that soon also. 

 

Brian managed to injure himself- and has a black eye- he let go of a crank of some sort on our boat- and it struck him on the side of the head near his eye socket.  He’s been busy helping get these kids ready for school, picked up, and keeping the house from burning down. 

 

Well that’s about it.  

 

Take care.  Let me know if you can make it to camp on the weekend of September 20^th.

 

Resurrection!

Mel, we still have technical excuses as to why there has been no participation in the blog (Brian). Then there are some feelings, whether it's the blues, conflict, whatever-time to put it out there. It's been far too long. Then of course, there is plain ol' laziness which is usually paired with "well I don't have anything to say"-well look here. I don't have anything to say, and dammit, I'm saying it. First off, everyone get your own account. Nobody here is retarded. This blog is what, nearing its 4th birthday? And still, tech difficulties? Still logging in as someone else? Create a new gmail account like a big boy/girl, and let's get this going again.

I'm sitting here trying to ignore Piper shouting in the bedroom. We just got back from a run, and I stuck them in bed. It's getting increasingly excruciating having the girls get into everything other than their toys, climbing up, and otherwise endangering themselves, which begs the question, why do they have toys at this point? If what they are interested in is anything other than what's already spilled all over the floor, then why don't we just throw all this crap away? It's not like we have the room for all of this stuff. That's it. Somebody get me a Hefty. Their personalities are getting more and more interesting, and they are able to hold their end of a conversation in their own way, but it already comes with a price.

I have some work to do these days, but it seems like I am losing the time to do it, and quickly. The girls can't hang with the big kid schedule yet (one mid day mega-nap), but they are having a really hard time getting to sleep on this second one. Sort of a limbo situation at the moment. So my work day is a little fractured. I may have to recruit the deans/lopez to get a bigger block of work time in. Maybe there'll be some money in it for someone.

I have a couple of friends coming over to play some music tonight. I'm scheduled to play a halloween party for our community and possibly at hoptoberfest in hood river which should be a fun one. Currently, I'm not particularly into the genre I'm playing, which is sort of down tempo blues for the most part. Even when it's up tempo, it's down. Sort of John Mayer type stuff-really good musicians and singers, if you haven't heard them yet.

I'm excited to see some interest in drumming from nicholas, and hopefully can get him over so I can begin to build my prodigy. We'll have to work that out. I recommended he get a really good sounding practice pad and sticks, and if he learns the physics of drumming, the rudiments (which is a REALLY nice way to relax IMO), and demonstrates some desire to learn the very basics, then the snare and set, the loud stuff, can come later, when he can make it sing something that makes sense. Here is someone I've enjoyed, and also has a really cool sounding pad (Jenn, show this to nicholas...it's pretty inspiring)

Clowns

Another blog post to notify everyone of a blog post. This one's pretty funny. Samia loves to accessorize.

blog update

got a new baby blog update. Thanks again to the sharps for their excellent childcare while we were off to celebrate a friend's birthday, not to mention all the help, food, company, etc over the weekend!

Mosquito love

I stopped counting at 100, bites that is. Mosquito bites. I have itched all day long. My ankles are all puffy, my back looks like an acne prone high school boy. All mosquito bites. I woke up probably 20 different times last night and thought "I really, really itch." But did I scratch. No. Did that help. No. Am I scratching now. Yes. Does it help. No.

Beyond the itchy body everything is going well. Greyson and I got to go out to dinner on his birthday while Jenn and Nick watched the girls. We are hoping to recipricate on Brian's birthday next week. I am pretty much swamped at work but I am actually kind of liking my job lately, which is new for me. We have started playing volleyball in Stevenson at a park every week. The girls come along and play in their playpen. They do pretty well until it is bedtime and then we have to head home or the crying starts.

We have new neighbors that are pretty cool. They BBQ all the time and have invited us over for a couple tasty dinners and then sent home a plate for the next day as well.

Greyson and I are planning our first camping trip with the girls. I am not too excited just because we are going over to the coast and it will be a lot of driving and I am not sure how they will do. But I will give it a shot.

later-
Mel

Grandma's birthday

I had a wonderful time, guys. It was great seeing everyone. Thanks to the sharps for the world famous hospitality, amazing cooking, and fantastic pinochle hands.

G

Trip to lincoln city

So I was thinking about food and how to make it simple. I wondered if Brian could be in charge of BBQing hot dogs and hamburgers since he's so good at it. Mel, would you mind providing veggies and dip? Jen, how about some of your famous omeletes one morning...Greyson for fresh fruit...Tim for his delicious Costco lasagna and french bread. Mom, maybe some giant subs from Safeway. Grandma, pie of course. Dad you're always good for malt-o meal and maybe some muffins or scrambled eggs. I'll do a crepes morning and a roast dinner. We can all buy our assorted drinks and snacks not mentioned above. Feel free to revise, edit, add or ignore, but please tell me what you're wanting to bring or buy once we get there so we'll have at least an outline of a menu. Thanks,
Traci

Noah's Second Trip to California

I wanted to put on some pictures of our sweet birthday boy. This was actually his third birthday party, but we hope one of the best.

Grandpa and Grandma had such a wonderful vacation when Stephanie, Nate and Noah came to visit. The kids came out to Sacramento for Stephanie to be in a wedding. We had the pleasure of watching Noah during the reception and drove the next day to Monterey so they could visit old collge friends of Stephanie.

We then came home and took them out in the motorhome. Michelle joined us and we had a very fun time where we are members in Elizabeth Lake ( about 1 1/2 hrs away from Simi Valley). The way up to the RV area is very windy and made Stephanie a little nervous. Haven't even attempted to have Grandma Sharp take this road .Even though it was much colder than we expected, we all had such fun, just sharing time together and watching Noah be himself. He is just a delight and what a ball we had.

Michelle and some of her friends threw Stephanie a 30th birthday, and the next day they flew home. It was Mother's day and it was just the best vacation we could have wanted.

Hello to all.

Aunt Chris, Sis/ Chris

Porterts

So normally I don't like watching baseball, but Tucker is a real go-getter. He does still have his problem of keeping track of his things. Mostly his uniform socks. Well, just one sock. So he has his long striped sock and then he gets one of Tim's socks and pulls it up as high as he can. The fans love it. I just shake my head. He plays first base because he can catch well and he plays shorts stop because he can field - third base because he can throw accurately to first base- then usually three innings of pitching. He's kind of wild (like the movie Bull Durham) but when he's on he really fires it in there.
India's track coach said she's a great long distance runner because she has a nice smooth stride. One practice the coach had her run the 4oometer. India wasn't thrilled. The coach was impressed but told me India didn't talk to her the rest of the practice. Her teacher said she's very bright when she's not socializing with the other kids. Hmmm.
Christian plays with the High Schoolers and is an awesome shooters as well as making great moves to penetrate the key and dish it to the big guys. Of course he keeps waiting for his growth spurt. He is very popular and has a cute, smart and atheletic girlfriend. The sit together at all Tuck's baseball games and go to the movies on group dates.
Tim loves his job. Last year's graduation was a joke I guess, so they had the kids dress up and got many compliments from the community. Tim gave a terrific speech. He has a crazy schedule this summer and is already doing lots of summer tourneys. He will be co-coaching with a highly negative coach; we'll see how that goes. We're having to hire a nanny/high-schooler because he will be gone over five weeks this summer and I need my sleep during the day. The kids have an unlimited swimming pass, unlimited golfing, and many kids that like to play Xbox, that singing/guitar/drums game, and then they have a trampoline across the street that they play some sort of jumping basketball game where they rigged a hoop. Oh and the baseball field just a few blocks away and bikes.
I still enjoy my job and now we have two night people. One can't speak English, but the other is a highly intellecual young man that helps me pass the time away. I'm pasty white and refuse to wear my shorts until that changes. Vain I know. I've made a few really good friends and though I'm not writing, I kicked everyone out of my writing room. I will have fresh flowers, my own stereo system, decorations that I like and no-one stealing my pens or leaving dorito bags on my shelf.
Can't wait to see everyone at the reunion.
Love Traci and family.

Dean family update

Our apologies- we have not been good bloggers lately.  I need to get my boys into this role.  We have a new addition to the family- Gabriel picked out his puppy- Mia- she is a bogle….what’s a bogle you might ask- well it is a beagle/boxer mix.  These breeds were my two favorites – as far as with children.  Mia appears more beagle then boxer- other than a slightly shorter snout and some wrinkles in her face.  The puppy keeps everyone busy chasing her as she scampers off with something that shouldn’t be chewed up or monitoring potential need for her to be outside for a potty break.

 Other updates:

Kalena is on her way to being potty trained.  She uses the bathroom more often than not now.  Her feet seem to be catching up in size with Emma’s.  Kalena is still a daddy’s girl.  I’m hoping over the summer to change this.

Emma is a sponge in her learning- I’m always amazed at the things coming from her- she showed me the sign for rain and told me this is her preschool’s “language” for rain.  She’s still spends a lot of time with me- we discussed solids, liquids and gases in the hot tub yesterday.  I think she was actually getting it- when she asked what was inside the float tube in the hot tub. 

Nicholas just got his report card- said he has a natural talent in science- but he doesn’t “like” it, he tells me.  All high marks- lowest was LA with a B… he doesn’t like to study for spelling tests.  Spelling does not come naturally to him- reminds me of my youngest sister.

Gabriel, he’s a very responsible pet owner- and is attentive- I might sign him up for puppy kindergarten- but we’ll see how he does on his own- he thinks it is a waste of money.  He is very into his friends- using his cell phone to text.  He is in between sports-  He starts football in August. 

Brian continues to work his insane schedule that starts at 1 or 2 in the morning.  He continues to dream about a boat purchase- one of them is now the background on our computer.  He’s making a raised bed for me- and has been busy getting our trailer ready for our camping trip this weekend. It looks like we are headed out to Goldendale area- the Columbia Hills site (rated a 10 by my book) was not impressive…Brian stayed there on Tuesday night- but brought our trailer back- so we are going to try to find something better by leaving early tomorrow morning. 

As far as me- I’m sooooo looking forward to summer.  School keeps me very busy.  Well I need to get back to work. 

Beach trip

We took our trip to the beach this last weekend. We stayed in Long beach, WA in a townhouse type thing. It was really nice and the weather was unbeatable. Go to the baby blog for more pictures.

When we got back all of our flowers had burst out including the lilacs, rhodys, azaleas. Our lilacs have some bad disease that is starting to spread. If anyone knows how to get rid of it let me know. We went down to check our garden and only a few things are up so far. However the birds are going crazy. The feeders are full of grossbeaks, finches, sparrows and towees (sp?).

We are still very busy around here. I am considering whether to work another field job that would take me away from home for another week in two weeks from now. I feel a bit obligated to do this job because all the other experienced fish taggers are already working a job in Canada that week so it is either me or drag the office manager off the east coast to tag. Maybe I will try to drag Greyson and the girls with me.

That is all. Hope everyone is doing well.

Mel

New baby pics

GET MORE AT ManBabies.com!

running chaturanga

And they call this a "rest week". That core synergistics thing is the toughest workout I've done yet. Doing a bow with all my weight on my ribcage when I'm fighting for air to begin with is not what I'd call rest.

New baby pictures up

Check the baby blog for new photos if you want.

It is 10pm and I just got back from an all day training and then my Monday night class in Portland. I wanted to try working out again today but I would mean getting up at like 4:30am and that is not my cup of tea.

We planted the garden this weekend. We are doing beans, carrots, zucchini, tomato, garlic, peas, cucumber, artichoke and corn. And this year I also planted some glads and lilies down there to be used for cut flowers this summer. We also have our new raspberry patch in. I just hope it will get enough sun where we put it. I also got about 2/3 of the lawn mowed.

FYI, whoever cares, I think we are heading down to my mother's house for mother's day. I think.

Going to bed...

-Mel

P90X and other updates

Mel, I hope your stomach muscle is okay. Did you pull a muscle or was it just muscle fatigue kicking in? So how are things going with P90X in general? Is it getting any easier now that you are into your 2nd week. I am in the middle of week 7 and am really starting to see some differences which is nice.

Everything at the Porter household is going well. Traci is working basically full-time now and with all the baseball games and track meets we seem to keep very busy. Christian was sick for a full week with a temperature hovering around 101 - 103. It must have been a stubborn one. He continues to participate in track and is also doing some of the P90X workouts with me. India is doing very well in her track and I have been quite impressed with her athleticism. Tucker is playing baseball and is really pretty good for not having played very much.

How is everyone else doing out there in blogger land?

Tim

Is everyone going to the coast??

Just wanted to get a little organized on meals and such. I figure with all the body surfing we can afford to splurge. And yes Greyson, we did take before and after pictures. It was quite depressing for me since I look great in jeans or a skirt, but put that skimpy bikini on, and it's just not too pretty. 36! How did it sneak up on me?
Piper does sound like quite the princess. And big Red, well she and Tuck seem to share the same propensity for life. Tucker plays either short-stop or pitcher and he hit a triple last game. Tim's sure he's practiced his little batting pose in front of the mirror. Christian and India continue to try hard...India especially. She does the hurdles and might be pretty good some day if she sticks with it.
Tim is driving me crazy with his nightly updates of caloric intake.
I'm now working 32-40 hrs. a week. My nights off I usually wake at 1-2a.m. and am ready for something. I have written some on my second novel- enjoying this lighter, modern comedy. Will send off first manuscript to that seasoned editor who will read it and give me an overview of what I need to fix. Hopefully it's salveable and not just a warm-up novel.
How are the Deans?
Lucy and Molly are such dorks. They prefer to cram into one small dog kennel at night - I also see them leaning against each other out in the sun. Molly went into the koi pond. I've found Lucy wet and frisky out back too. Great fun!

How to get in shape in just 2 weeks!!!

Well as you can see the P90X 11 disk DVD exercise program has begun in the our household after hearing that the Porter's have been doing it for 5 weeks. So Greyson and I have finished our first week and it pretty much sucked. It is quite intense.

But to back up, I found out 2 weeks ago that my old college was having a volleyball tournament and was puting together a bunch of old alumni teams. So I started running almost every day in hopes of not completely dying out on the court. If I had stuck with that I think I would have been fine. But then Greyson got wind of the P90X so we started that the week before my tournament. After the third abripperX workout the night before my tournament I noticed that indeed my stomach was feeling a bit ripped. And not in a good way, more of the slightly injured way. So I try to play at the tournament and the very first hit brings me to the ground as a searing pain shoots through my lower abdomin muscles. Determined to hit I tried about 4 more, each ending with me curled up like a baby. So it was tipping and blocking for the rest of the day for me. Those activities only slightly hurt.

Moral of the story: You can't go from a post twin delivery flabby belly to AbripperX without a little something inbetween.

Weather: Tired of the snow. Tired of the rain. Tired of the clouds. Tired of the cold.

Babies: Doing great except for the not figuring out how to sit down from a standing position. Much screeming now occurs every time we put Samia to sleep and she gets stuck standing up in her crib. Piper and I went out and did outside chores today. I can just leave her sitting in the grass and she just stays there and looks around or picks up a pinecone or pats the grass. I wouldn't even attempt that with Samia. She would be eating rocks, dirt, grass, anything and everything. Piper is finally getting better at feeding herself. She still insists on hanging on to whatever she is eating and won't just put the whole thing in her mouth.

Pets: One night Greyson says "Ada has a big red sticker on her leg". Then the next morning, "Uh Mel, that isn't a sticker". I go and look and it is this nasty big, torn open wound type of thing. I am guessing the neighbor dog did it but we didn't have her collar on for whatever reason so it is possible Ada was over on their property. She now has about a 5 inch incision on the her upper leg. They had to go in and trim away the edges of the skin and pull the skin really tight to get it all sewed back together. It didn't actually seem to hurt her much but it sure looked ugly.

Gardens: We have the rototiller from the Dean's but haven't used it yet. We are getting a bunch of raspberry plants for free from a friend so we will have to find a place to put those and figure out some sort of way to keep them upright.

That is enought catchup for now.
-Mel

P90x

It's killin' me. Finished chest and back yesterday; plyos today.

Memorial day beach reservations

larrys@centurytel.net
Oregon Shores Vacation RentalsPO Box 234, Depoe Bay, OR 97341 800-800-7108 - Toll Free · (541) 764-3300 – Local · (541) 764-2271 - Faxwww.orshores.com · info@orshores.com

Could not find the URLs of the two rented sites. Go to Oregon Shores Vacation Rentals and click on North Lincoln City to find Fowler's Hideaway and Oceanside In-let to see each house, rooms, beds, and ammenities. The dates rented are the nights of Aug 29-30-31 leaving monday Sept. 1st. Love, Dad, Grandpa, and Son.

Website Design (click here to go)

Well. This is it. I built it over the weekend, thanks to mel's quality childcare.

projects

This is what I've been working on lately. It's not my typical style, which is often very machined and geometric, so I think it will go well in my book. I have a poster and a website to do for the event also, although I'm still getting the clients to dig up the imagery I'll be needing. It's a pretty standard problem-getting in their faces often enough so they understand why there is a delay.

I've been putting in time as the City of Stevenson webmaster also, lately doing basic updates to their brews blues and bbqs pages, which is essentially painting with a broom stick.

And my most wonderful masterpieces of all can be found at the recently updated blog

fall

this is a composition I'm working on-my own version of Vivaldi's 4 seasons. This is part of my fall season. I have a rhythm guitar part, and I'll probably figure out the drums on the fly when I get a chance to have actual guitar players. I want this about half again as fast, and some pretty fast chord work.

Happy Birthday Mom

Just wanted to wish mom a happy birthday. Unfortunately I am working and can't be there to celebrate but I think Jenn and kids will be down. Have a good one.

On the road again

Spring is here, at least as far as the fish are concerned. It is field work season again. I have managed to weasel out of most of the away from home field work this year. However I will be gone all of next week at Willamette Falls in Portland doing a study. It isn't that far from home but is just too long of hours (usually 7am - 6pm) to make the trip home at night. I am hoping Greyson will bring the family to visit me at the hotel.

The girls are doing great. We did our last breastfeeding yesterday which was hard for me. I know it was much more traumatic for me to stop then it was for the girls. I just couldn't keep up with it being away from them all next week and then being in Portland for training the following week. The babies are now 8 months old and doing great with their solid foods. They were around 75% for height/weight for their last checkup (I think). Except Piper had 95% for her head. Must be all those brains.

Greyson is busy with watching the girls and doing freelance projects when he can find the time. He has been taking the girls for a run in the jogging stroller almost every day and letting Ada run along.

I have to get out and prune the roses tomorrow. I should have done it last week since this warm weather has caused them to start leafing out already. That is all fro now, we will try to post some more baby pictures on the baby blog soon.

Mel

Computer Room

This is our new computer setup with table, printer rack and file cabinet. I like being able to look out the window and being able to easily clean the floor. We have ordered a sleeper queen couch that should arrive sometime in April. It has a memory foam mattress, so I am hoping that it will be comfortable for whoever sleeps on it. Mom bought 3-4 sets of plastic bins and organized the wall racks. After sweeping the floor everything looks organized and neat. Kudos, Janice!

Howie bothers Will and Mina too much. Tonight Will evidently caught him in the nose and the blood did flow. But I hear both dogs ferociously fighting (playing) and running in the halls and living room. Often Charlie lifts her back right leg when playing outside; I think that her joint is turned in so far that will cause her severe arthritis in the future.

baby blog

big update http://www.grudd.net/blog/

Bernie's passing

As Grandma Ruby's friend Bernie recently passed away, I wanted to give her address in case anyone would like to send her a card. She is taking his loss very hard, as they developed a very deep bond in such a short period of time.

Bernie was such a wonderful friend to Grandma/Mom and enjoyed being with her so much. Their eyes just sparkled when they were together; it was amazing. Gives all who knew them hope, that new love and companionship has no age limit. Bernie really gave of himself, volunteering his time and energies from close friends to working with the Ventura County Sheriff's department. Sort of ironic that when they were called to his apartment the morning he died, there on the counter was his Sheriff's identification badge on the kitchen counter.

It was a very difficulty day for Grandma, finding her him sitting in his office chair gone from her forever. It was too short a time for her and for all who knew him; we sure enjoyed getting to know him. And he brought out the best in those he was around.

After Bernie's family arrived later in the day, we went back to mom's apartment. She played for me a voice mail that Bernie had left for her earlier in the week. It was something like this:

"Hi, gorgeous! I'll be late at the doctors, so go ahead and eat something. I don't want you to be uncomfortable. I'll see you later, I love you."

He was truly comfortable expressing himself and brighten up the life of those around him. I once told him that I wanted to tell him something and hoped it wouldn't make him feel uncomfortable. I said I thought dad would have liked him. Without hesitation, he responded" and from what I hear, I know I would have liked him." To say the least, I loved his answer.

Grandma's address is:
1567 E. Jefferson St. Apt 311
Simi Valley, California 93065
Her Phone: 805-582-9432

Love to all,
Chris Aunt/ Sister

Finally some real snow

All last week I had been eagerly awaiting the big snow they promised and I was sorely disappointed. But today when it was supposed to just rain we have had over a foot of snow and it keeps coming. At this rate I doubt that we will make Emma's B-day party and Greyson will likely miss his superbowl party he was going to in Portland. We had a great time in the snow today. We dressed the girls up in their snowsuits and put them in the snugglies and walked down the road for a couple miles round trip. But with snow and babies it made for a nice workout. However they are getting to heavy to go in those front packs. I seem to have a permanent crick in my latoid muscle now. Ada also went and a deer sprinted in front of us and she persued. Usually at our house she will be gone for 20-30 minutes when this happens but in the snow she only spent about 3 minutes before she was back to us.

Samia has been quite the crab the last few days with the teething. She gets most upset when trying to drink her bottle or nurse. Poor baby. And now Piper started gnawing on Greyson's hand so she is probably next. They are both sitting nicely when proped with the boppy pillow. I know crawling will be here soon and I don't look forward to all the new areas that will give them access to.

We went to a memorial service Friday for a friend and fellow co-worker of Greyson's who died from cervical cancer this week. She has two little boys and it was very sad and just hard to believe.

It is nights like this that I have a bit of a T.V. craving. I will just have to go find something else to do. I need some good books to read. No drama, lovey dovey types, and no really icky horror, but anything else I am up for trying. Any suggestions? Or better yet, anyone have any books that you have read that I can borrow? The going favorite around here is "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?"

Take care all,
Mel

from Jennifer- the Dean family

We have lots of snow.  The biggest challenge was getting out of the driveway/Stevens Road onto the main road- I didn’t make it the first try- did the second- just praying that another car wasn’t coming.  We had a late start today.  Yeah!   I got to play with my nieces last night- they are SOOO cute!  They were both rolling around- until the got to a wall- then Samia would wail until I replaced here near toys.  Piper just smiled and played happily the entire night.  Samia seemed to want more individual attention and to be held at first- she liked the sound of smashed paper against my body.  I forgot how neat babies are- Samia tugged hard on my hair while I gave her a bottle- and then just grinned…Anyway- thanks Mel and Greyson- I love the chance to watch them.  Never hesitate to call- it is a pleasure. 

We are celebrating Emma’s fifth birthday on Sunday at noon.  All who can make it – are welcome to join us.  The roads are clear until the last mile or so.  Hopefully it will melt off soon.

I’m kind of swamped at work- so I’ll post the next chance I get.  All is warm and cozy at the Dean’s household. 

Power woes

We had about a half inch of freezing rain last night before the power went out around 7pm. Since that is baby bedtime it was alright. We even managed to have all of our flashlights fully charged. The problems didn't come until this morning when I used the last of the water to fill a small dish for baby sponge baths. That is the bad part about a well. No electricity, no water. I always complain that the woodstove takes up a large part of my small living room, but I was sure glad it was there for heat. And it made for warm bathwater for the babies. Our phone was also out so we decided to head into town this morning to get some breakfast and stock up on some drinking water. I even managed to talk Greyson into a quick look through IKEA. When we got back home the power, water and phone were all back on. I still have to go get a shower and should do that soon since more freezing rain and snow is on its way. I might even fill the tub with water for toilet flushing.

I am making pea mush for the babies tonight. Hopefully that will go over better than the egg yolks I tried yesterday. That made Piper actually have a full body shiver she was so disgusted. Samia is doing pretty well for teething. I just can't believe my little baby is old enough to have teeth.

Must go shower....
-Mel

Winter weather

We have about a half inch of freezing rain outside that is supposed to turn to snow at any moment. I like the snow so I eagerly await. And I just brought another load of wood into the house so I will be toasty. Greyson and I went out on date night last night without the girls. We had two friends over to watch the girls for us. Apparently they are into the "strager danger" phase because Samia screemed with fear whenever they got near her. So after 20 minutes of trying to settle her down we decided to just leave and hoped our absense would help the situation. Apparently it did as she calmed right down and they both went to sleep without even crying. We had a nice dinner and yes, talked about our girls and the things we forgot to tell the sitter, like which crib belongs to which girl. Typical first time parents, we know.

Our chickens finally started laying, so we now have 3 eggs a day. I think the babies will start getting some egg yolks soon. We have been making all of their baby food so far and that has worked out pretty well. Not too much effort if we make a big batch and freeze it for later. Samia is teething now. We see two tiny teeth coming in on the bottom. She is a bit fussy and drooling but hopefully since the teeth are through she will start feeling better soon. Piper has been just an angel lately.

Now it is raining. It will get a nice wet base to make a sheet of ice for the snow to lay on.....

Mel

Overdue update

For some reason I have been out of the blogging mood. I think the holidays zapped it out of me somehow. But I may be getting beyond that finally. So what's new in my house??

Well, I am fine. Work is starting to rev up for the big spring field work season. So we are buried in putting out proposals and bids for upcoming jobs,and getting organized for jobs we know are coming up. I am trying to figure out what I want to try to do given the breastfeeding/pumping issues and just not wanting to be away from home much.

We turned off the cable a couple of weeks ago after many months of contemplation. Is is a comforting feeling to me to just come home and zone out to a mindless show. But then I felt like I was wasting away at the same time. And then the babies would turn and stare the moment it would go on so we decided enough was enough and had it disconnected. So what have I been doing with all my free time? Well, I have started exercising again. Lifting weights and going to play basketball at the little Skamania grade school just down the road. Right now just a couple families come but it is fun to shoot around. Unfortunately Greyson and I have to take turns going since the girls go to bed so early. I have also been playing some games with Greyson, practicing the guitar again and watching some movies we borrowed from a friend. So I still get a bit of TV action but only after the babies are asleep.

Baby Front- All's good. Once in a while I come home and Greyson is ready to run out of the house screaming but mostly he loves being home with them. I really love my time with them in the mornings before work, I just wish they would sleep in a tad longer. But they are such sweet, happy babies most of the time. Samia now knows how to move across the room using a slow log roll to get to some item of interest. The other night she managed to wrap the video game controller cord around her body three times. Piper can roll both ways but doesn't realize that she can actually get somewhere yet. They are starting to love their "solid" foods, if you can call applesauce and mushed sweet potatoes "solid". Samia's new noise is to make a coughing sound about 10 times in a row. She thinks it is really funny, especially if you do it back to her. Piper prefers action and will give you a giggle if you lift her high in the air, dip her body backwards or have her fly in to get her sister. I think Piper is starting to look less like a boy now that the hair is getting longer. Ada has been very good with the girls and doesn't seem frightened or bothered by them at all... yet. We will see once they start crawling. The girls have started to "pet" the cats, which mostly involves grabbing fir and wiskers, but the siamese still seem to put up with it as long as they are getting some kind of attention.

I almost forgot.. Greyson has been on this incredible cleaning freakout! I love it. The house is sooooooo clean. I just try not to mess anything up when I am home. He even made the dreaded Costco trip last week.

I need to go to bed. But I will be making a better blogging effort from now on.
-Mel

Holiday lights

Follow up of Larry's question;
One of the outside storage units has an electrical outlet. It's actually for the outside TV etc. We were at a full hook-up rv park which supplys water, cable, tank dumping and electicity. If we were "dry camping" we would be running it off our generator.Wish you could see this motorhome.
If you get a change take a look at Fleetwood.com and check out the 2008 Bounders. They are so amazing, they are such fun, except gas is out of sight. But we are not letting that stop us. ( who knows what the future brings).You'll have to ask Mom about Bernies gifts.