a bit of spirituality.

My kids are continuing to impress me in showing the knowledge they have learned. Although the change has been pretty gradual, this week I noticed some break-throughs.

One kid I have been trying to teach how to put his own coat with this trick I learned when I was little and he has finally mastered it and he is so proud of himself.

I have another boy who is extremely hyperactive and has a hard time understanding how his actions affect others. Thursday, he bumped into a girl and really scared her. I let him first decide what to do next before interrupting and telling him what to do. Once he realized how upset his friend was, he went over helped her off the floor and gave her a hug. It was so innocent, but the two of them figured out how to fix the situation all on their own, in the same manner any teacher would have and they are only 4 years old.

It was beautiful.

I got this in an email from my Aunt Beth today and thought I would share it...

Saint Theresa's Prayer
May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.

Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.

We hope this finds you all well and happy.

Love,
your enlightened oregonians.

merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream.

Life is good.

Rick and I are constantly realizing all the different ways we are blessed. This week being that we are so lucky to have so many exciting things to look forward to.

The end of March, Rick's youngest sister is coming out with a friend for her spring break, as well as one of Rick's groomsmen, Matt. We plan to get out to the coast and probably go for a day on Mt. Hood to do some snow skiing.

The end of April, my parents are coming out for about 10 days and we plan to go up to Seattle to see a couple of Mariner's games as well as a trip to the southern coast to do some sightseeing.

June we have Chris and Mollie's wedding and of course ours is in August.

Rick got his wedding outfit and his wedding band this week. Hopefully we will be picking out my ring soon as well. We have an amazing DJ and an amazing photographer and even a local Hampton lady who will be baking our cake.

We are so excited about the upcoming months it is sometimes hard to focus on the now, but we are continuing to take one day at a time.

We love you all and hope everybody is as happy with life as we are.

Love,
your soon to be south carolinians?

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.