been awhile.

I apologize for how long it has been but we haven't really had much to report.

Lets see...

We have a friend that I am sure I have mentioned, Brandy, who worked with me in Richmond who also lives out here. We see her about once a week. Well, last weekend Rick and she discovered that they went to elementary and middle school together. You gotta understand we have been hanging out with her for the past 6 months pretty regularly and they just now realized it. Small world eh?

So in other big news (not that the wedding isn't big enough!) Rick and I have decided not to stay in Portland. We absolutely love it here but have decided it is just too far away. It is going to create problems later when we decide to have children and neither of us what to raise our children 3000 away from aunts and uncles and grandparents.

SO... We are thinking Greenville, South Carolina. We picked this spot because it is close to the Bostons, close to the mountains, close to the beach and close enough to Richmond that we wouldn't have to miss work to visit for the weekend.

We haven't worked all the specifics out yet but right now we are thinking we will move after the wedding. That way we can use our honeymoon money to travel across the bottom half of the country and knock out a few more notches in my belt for the 50 states and it will be a good time to camp across the country. And then hopefully after the new year we can take a tropical honeymoon to some place really relaxing.

So that is what is going on with us. A lot can change in 6 months so nothing is set in stone, but it looks like either way we are definitely going to be east coasters.

We love you all!

Love,
your not-for-long oregonians.

the next 6 months will fly by.

My wedding dress got here today! Rick has promised to keep his curiosity to himself. But I did lock myself in the spare bedroom so I could try it on and it is way more beautiful than I remember!

I cannot wait until the wedding!! 6 months from tomorrow and it will be here!

In other news, my friend Katie got engaged yesterday! Love is in the air!

Love,
your very excited oregonians.

happy cupid day!

I hope everybody had as lovely of a day as I did...

We made valentines bags this morning in school and then we had a big valentine party!

I got a ton of chocolate [most of which rick will end up eating] and some nice lotion and even some beautiful pink tulips from one of my kids.

But the highlight of my day...

Rick picked me up as he does most days, but today he picked me up with a dozen roses. It was completely unexpected, as we don't normally celebrate valentines day, and very, very sweet. I blushed like a little girl!

And in the spirit of the god of love... We love you ALL!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

love,
your very loved oregonians.

did you throw away the space mud?

We had a great weekend (for the most part).

I babysat one of my kids from class on Friday for a few hours and that was pretty fun. Saturday we met up with a friend from Rick's work and his girlfriend. Sunday, our friend Brandy (from VA) came over for a big home-cooked meal and she brought cheesecake. So overall it was a great weekend.

Unfortunately, the bug that has been traveling around school finally got to me late Sunday night. I was up most of Sunday night and Monday in the bathroom. But I went to bed really early last night and seem to be feeling a lot better... so back to work I go.

Hope this finds everybody warm and healthy!

We love you all!

Love,
your icky but feeling better oregonians.

Ps. I think I have pictures to share, I just gotta get around to doing it. I will upload them as soon as I can.

its raining, its snowing, the old man is cold.

On Friday we made space mud at work. It was a mixture of glue, borax, water and food coloring. We made ours a pinkish-gray shade to look like the moon... but the kids loved it! It had a slimey gooey texture (way cooler than play-doh) and kept their interest for about 45 minutes, which is pretty impressive for 4 year olds.



On a different note... We got lots and lots of snow! Rick had Saturday off so we took a drive to see all the beautiful snow.


I have to say though, as much as I am loving all this snow, I am definitely getting burnt out on the cold weather. I am ready for spring. A new yogurt shop just opened across the street from our building and a new ice cream place just opened next to our streetcar stop... so spring time will be happily welcomed.

The snow of course turned to rain. So we spent the rest of Saturday inside, cleaning and rearranging. Rick did most of the rearranging and I did most of the cleaning... but this is what our new living room looks like...


Rick's youngest sister is going to come out for a visit at the end of March, followed by our friend Matt and then maybe my parents. So, we have much to look forward to!

The wedding plans seem to be coming together. We should have our invitations out in the next couple of weeks!

Well... I am off to watch super bowl commercials... and a little bit of football. Go Giants!

We hope this finds all cozy and warm with smiles on their faces and hearts. We love you!

Love,
your blessed oregonians.

walking in a winter wonderland.

So first I will apologize for not writing in the past week. I have been really sick but I am getting much better!

Needless to say the snow has been coming in Portland and boy is it beautiful. The weird thing is that the city is at sea level so we don't get snow where our apartment is, but on our way to work over the first hill it is immediately a winter wonderland. Of course working at a preschool is the perfect place for me to enjoy the snow!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera on Monday and I remembered it on Tuesday but the snow mostly had melted. But of course that didn't stop us so we played in the slush!




I did remember to bring my camera today and we had about 3 inches in the West Hills.




With all the kids showing up at really odd times due to the condition of the roads, we decided to scratch our planned academics and have a fun day.

So we made pudding.

All of the kids got a chance to mix, beat, and stir. I think it took all the discipline they had not to eat it right then and there.




Then we bundled up and buried our pudding in the snow. (To adults this seems silly, why not just put it in the refrigerator? But, to the kids it was awesome. They were so excited the snow got to be a part of their "cooking" experience.)

"We gotta make sure it's very very cold."


The pudding is in there somewhere!

And while we waited for the pudding to set, we had snowball fight! Some of my kids really have arms on them!

This is Max (in the blue coat) chasing Teacher Stephanie with a snow ball.

Hailey throwing a snow ball at me. That would be the snowball in the top left corner.

"Teacher Erin look how big this one is, you are going to get it!"

The kids discovering snow sticks.

Finian (in the red and blue coat) chasing Teacher Stephanie with a huge snowball.

Uncovering our pudding to take back inside for lunch.

My class hungry for chocolate pudding!

We ate our pudding with our lunch and the kids loved it! I think it tasted better because it was buried in snow. Not only did they eat it but they wore it too!


Aside from a million runny noses and a couple hours in borrowed clothes (while their wet clothes went in the dryer) we really had a great day! If only everyday could be this fun!

I hope everybody has been enjoying life as much as I have!

Rick unfortunately has not. In his industry, snow makes life a little bit more difficult since he drives such a large machine. I did ride in it for the first time last week and boy is it crazy. I felt like big foot being that high off the ground, especially since on the ground I am used to everybody being taller than me (well minus all the munchkins I teach!) But other than that, he is loving Oregon as much as me. He won't admit it but I think he is a little bit jealous I get to play all day!

We love you all!

Love,
your covered in snow oregonians.

the beauty of oregon.

I don't have much to report, we are keeping it pretty mellow. I think we are going to go on a hike this weekend so we will have much more to show you guys, but in the meantime...

I woke up this morning to a phone call from Rick telling me to go check out Mt. Hood...

And this is what I saw...


And although the pictures don't do it complete justice, I still thought they were worth sharing. I guess we can still see the sun rise on the West Coast. Looks like we have a lot more beauty to look forward to!

Hope this finds all well and happy.

Love,
your beautified oregonians.