First Day of School: Soren

My baby boy...


...is now in preschool. I'm so thankful for the little preschool we have out here. It's just plain wonderful. I love the people and I love the teacher. Fortunately, Soren gets to attend for 2 years! He's currently in the 3-4 year old class and goes to school Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was a bit surprised at his hesitation to go since he's been there so many times and knows Miss Kara well. At orientation, he was the only kid who wouldn't participate in circle! On the first day of school, he was so distraught at the thought of me leaving, that I decided to stay. Here's a few shots of the day...

The two boys that Soren is sitting next to are actually little brothers of students in Synnove's class!

Finding our eyes, ears, noses, and mouths...
Soren was pretty quiet all day. He wanted me to push him on the tire swing when we were out on the playground. He seemed annoyed when a little girl (Kendall) came to get a ride as well...

Then, when Abbie wanted a push as well, Soren was...well...his face says it all! LOL!

On Thursday I decided to leave him at school. I knew that he would be just fine after I left, but I was sad to go. Soren's face fell as I hugged and kissed him goodbye, and he even shed a small tear. As soon as I was gone, all was well and he went off to play. After I picked him up and brought him home, he was really proud to show me his apple project and recite the new poem he learned. So...for a guy that doesn't say much these days, I think he's happy to be a preschooler!

First Day of School: Synnove

5 short years ago...

Last week...

The school years are here and it's taking me a while to get into the swing of things. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was in elementary school...and here I am, all grown-up. I'm the one signing permission slips, volunteer sign-ups, and checks to the cafeteria lady....not my mom. For Synnove, this day has been coming for a long time. I don't think she really knew what to expect. How could she? She's never been there...then again, neither have I. Quite frankly, September 13th was my first day of school as well. AND, it was Synnove's teacher's first day of school! Mrs. Gantenbien is fresh out of college and just as timid as her students for her first day.

Teachers did home-visits the week before the kindergartners started school. Both Synnove and Mrs. Gantenbien were a bit shy when they first met.

I wasn't really expecting to get emotional, but as I walked towards the school and saw "Welcome Kindergarten" on the reader board, I felt a lump form in my throat. I walked a few steps further and saw the new principal...Mrs. Collier. Not only was Mrs. Collier my 4th grade teacher, she is also my parents' neighbor and long-time friend. It's always good to see a familiar face, and it was fun to reminisce with her about school. I wanted to get a picture of her and Synnove, but she tricked me and snapped this instead...

Once we made our way in, we found the bustle of school in full swing. Everyone else had already had a week of school, and the kindergartner's were standing around like lost sheep looking longingly at their proud camera-bearing parents. Synnove wasn't completely forlorn, as there were lots of friendly faces from last year's preschool.

The clock read 8:15, and the supervisor didn't waste any time lining all the kids up. Most of the classes went to their rooms to drop off their coats and backpacks. Synnove's class stayed and waited for everyone else to return to do their morning "sing-along!" I don't know which warms my heart more...the first day of kindergarten, or morning sing-along! Every morning the k-4th grades gather to sing songs, and, apparently, they've done it that way for years. Love it!

Sing-along

After sing-along I decided to leave. It was a bit surreal for me to leave Synnove at Elementary School for an entire day of learning. Yes...and entire day...8:15-2:15! This is the first year the school has done a full-day kindergarten. So far, I think it's going well. Synnove absolutely LOVES being a school-girl :)

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend was a welcome break. Our family was plum pooped and we needed some lazy days sitting by the fire. The weather was decent and nobody was sick...so we were already off to a great start! Usually, Labor Day camping is the BEST because most everyone is available to come. However, we were missing a few this year, and it was quieter than normal. It was great to have Jeremy and Jessica and their kids there. Our kids love camping, but they love it even more when they have friends to play with. So, between my kids, their kids, and Faith they kept themselves pretty busy.

Faith is slightly terrified of the ATVs, and so we all did some coaxing to get her to overcome her fear. She did NOT want to be on the 4-wheeler! Once the weekend was up, she was an avid rider :)

I told him to smile...

On Saturday, Adam and I had to run home to shower and head to Vancouver for our friend Kristin's wedding. No, I wasn't too happy to leave camping and be in the car for 4 hours, but I wouldn't have missed my friend's wedding. Ultimately, she's the reason I even met Adam! It was a beautiful, intimate, backyard ceremony. If you wanna check out some of her pictures, they are posted HERE.

Just before everyone started to leave on Monday, they all gathered to move the BIG woodpile under cover for the fall/winter. Earlier in the weekend, they all went out and did some ATV logging and cleared more trails.

We only had Lucy for one short week before taking her on her first camping trip. I was a bit nervous, but she fared OK, considering. We gave her some Dramamine for the trip there and back, but both times she got pretty darn sick. As the weekend progressed, she had to be kept on the line more and more. She would bark and whine because she so desperately wanted to be with everyone else and play with the other dogs, but she was just too mischievous. At night we had to keep her in the trailer (not my first choice!) because there were lots of coyotes out. Amazingly enough, she stayed quiet and did awesomely in the trailer! Next year will be a completely different story...I'm sure of it.

Frustration

Technology is moving too fast for my budget.

I just spent the last 45 minutes trying to download pictures and videos onto my hard drive from my camera. Yes, I did finally succeed (sort of)...but 45 minutes is too long! I love that my new camera takes better video than my actual video camera, but my computer doesn't. I only have a 1 gig memory card, but have been looking forward to getting a larger one so that I can take more video. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that idea will be "compatible" with my elderly computer. Most of my trouble in downloading came when I tried downloading a 2 minute video. TWO. MINUTE. VIDEO. My computer didn't like that so well and timed-out during my first two tries. I actually had to restart my computer because it was staying frozen for too long in "thought." I went to view it when the computer finally accepted it. First of all, the video was only compatible to QuickTime....lame. Secondly, the video didn't download properly and was all jumbled, choppy, and the timing was off. Ugh...the whole situation makes me a little sick to my stomach.

There's really nothing I can do to improve the video, and I don't know how to make it compatible with other media players. Until I get a new computer I'm going to have to download videos onto my parent's computer and save to CD or DVD. Who knows....even if the videos did work on my computer, I wouldn't be able to burn them to CD because they might be too large. My computer doesn't even have a DVD burner.

Another thing I'm a little frustrated about...
I've been doing a little bit of research on photo-editing software. I'm interested in a particular program, but the the customer reviews have been discouraging. I've read quite a few, and I've come across a large handful that say that the installation caused their "older" computers to crash. As my Grandma would say...."scratch that."

Still...I love my new camera, and I'm so thankful to have it :)

Blog Post #200: The Last Week of Summer

I know it's a cliche, but time has flown by. Two years ago, when I started blogging, I didn't really think I would stick to it...but here I am. And, for some reason, people actually read what I write! Folks, these days, are fascinated by reality...whether it be extraordinary or mundane. I don't see my family as either, but somewhere in between. Still, you all keep reading...and I'll keep writing, regardless.

If I haven't mentioned it before, I'll say it again: This has been the busiest summer of my life. Much of it has been spent in the car traveling back and forth to town. That's one of the major downsides of living in the sticks. Even if I've got a quick errand to run, it turns into an all-day event. I've got to make the trip worth-while...right? Thankfully, I've got my reliable fuel efficient money saver to keep me on the go. Well...less than a month ago, that little car of mine broke down. Fortunately, it happened in a place where I could pull over and Aunt Alice was able to pick up the kids and I within a short 10 minutes of parking. Adam towed it home the next day and fixed it. I wish that was the end of the story.

The week before Labor Day weekend, Adam took the week off of work. He had some parts coming in the mail to fix the exhaust on his Montero. That project, along with the kick-off of hunting season, was going to keep him busy for most of the week. It was Monday afternoon, and I was just getting back from an overnight bachelorette party for Tonya. I can't remember, but I think I got home in time for Adam to take a trip to the auto parts store. I went up to the house to visit Lucy (we had had her for only 5 days) and found that the water to the hose was turned off. Then Adam came up behind me and informed me that the water was turned off completely. There were some guys doing some work on the waterline up the road and we just assumed it was an emergency shut-off. I was kinda miffed as it was a warm day and we hadn't received a call from the water company.

That night we were going to my parent's house for dinner...they were having an experimental moose roast. Monday also happened to be the day before my mom's 50th, so we celebrated with gifts. ANYway, before getting in the car at about 6:00, I decided I should call the water company to see what was up. Adam was dirty and sweaty and needed a shower, and I wanted to make sure I didn't need to bring some shower items to take to my mom and dad's to take a shower as well. I couldn't believe that the water was off all day and we hadn't gotten a call. The water company was closed and there was no emergency phone message. After some last-minute finagling with the water-main and a few trips up an down our driveway, we decided to go up the road to ask the guys still working on the waterline. On our way, the car started to make a rattling sound. We asked the water guys what was up. Turns out it was a planned water shut-off and we were not informed. UNbelievable. Anyway, they were actually turning the water back on as we drove back down to our house, and the car started rattling with a small vengeance. We parked it, popped the hood, and Adam discovered that what he fixed before was now broken again. It's been jacked up in the garage ever since. I was thankful, however, that we were able to make it up our driveway and we didn't need to town it home again. We can thank the stupid water company for that!

Having two out of our three vehicles out of service made for an interesting week. Either I or Adam had something going on every day that needed a vehicle. Plus, we were supposed to be going camping on Thursday. Adam and I were both on edge and getting very frustrated with each other over everything. Quite honestly, it was a terrible week...not a great way to spend a week off of work. On Tuesday, after Adam's morning hunt, the truck (either I or Adam driving) went back and forth from town to home 3 times for three different things...there was no way around it. That night I had my MK meeting (Tracy picked me up) and Adam needed to get a part welded at Don's. The kids ended up eating at the Logger Restaurant at 8:30 that night! They were so hungry that Adam let the kids eat pie before their actual food came. On Wednesday Adam tried to fix the car...and was unsuccessful. That night we drove the fam into Warrenton to attend an open house for Henry (my little bro) and his baby...the Warrenton High School Fish Hatchery. Henry has been getting some attention from news wires around the state for the new water filtration system he and his team developed. It's impressive! I have pictures on my camera upstairs...ha ha! After getting back home that night, I put the kids to bed while Adam worked till 2:30 AM to fix the exhaust on his Montero so that we could bring it camping the next day.

I'm pretty sure we slept in on Thursday, but I could be wrong. There was lots to do to get ready for camping...including a trip to Warrenton for groceries. At around noon, Adam took Lucy into town for her shots while I went to the store. The vet was closed for lunch, so I met Lucy and Adam at Elise's shop for a sandwich. *Sigh*...After all our packing and running around was done, we headed to Naselle and arrived just before it was too dark to set up camp.

Since getting home, the up-and-running '89 Montero has been the family sedan. We drive the truck as little as possible to save on gas. Our trouble with vehicles lately has put me over the edge. The Civic has given us a large handful of trouble this spring/summer (not just it's current problem). No, none of the problems have been huge, and all have been fixable...but it's getting tiresome. It's fortunate that Adam has been able to fix most of the problems on our "vintage" Honda, but time is precious, and Adam doesn't have much of it. I'm hoping for a vehicle maintenance-free fall, because, quite frankly, our cars have stolen our summer.

Meet Lucy Brown

Let me first start out by saying...my life is now complete. I have my doggie! The story of how we found Lucy started about two years ago when I was taking Charlie to the vet. I came out of the exam room to find a beautifully groomed, milky white, GIGANTIC dog. I was in awe. I asked the owner what kind of dog it was and she told me that she thought it was a mix of Pyrenees and Maremma Sheepdog. I knew what a Pyrenees was, but had never heard of the other. I was curious, so I googled the breed when I got home. After reading quite a bit about the dog, I started to think that it might be quite perfect for what what we wanted. Trouble was, they are fairly rare and finding a puppy was going to be a challenge. The closest breeder was in Bellingham, WA. I emailed the breeder a couple of times for information and price. They were $600...and driving to Bellingham in the truck was going to cost a small fortune as well. That didn't detour our wanting one...we just didn't make it a priority. As everyone knows, dogs are a big commitment, and I was content to wait. So, we waited.


Last spring, I got together with one of the mom's at the preschool for a playdate. She lives waaay out in the sticks on a farm. Somehow, in our conversation, we started talking about dogs. I told her about the dog I wanted, and she said that her mom (who lives right next to her) and her other neighbor has those dogs for their goats and sheep. I got really excited and asked her to ask her neighbor where he got his dogs. Turns out he got them in Bellingham, but she said that sometimes there are ads for them in the Capitol Press (an agriculture newspaper in Oregon) for mixed breeds, and even full breeds for much cheaper. I knew my dad got the Capitol Press and asked him to save his papers for me, but he told me that he stopped getting it. Life got real busy, and I just didn't take the time to keep on actively searching.


Two weekends ago, my sister and I threw a bridal shower for our friend Tonya at my parent's house. When it was over, I sat and chatted with my family. Dad told a story about an article he read in the Capitol Press. Dad was getting the Capitol Press again! Hooray! I asked him if he could save the classifieds for me, and I meant to take a few papers home when I left, but I forgot. The next day Dad called me with a number for a guy in Gaston, OR selling Maremmas for $350! Within seconds of hanging up, I was dialing Adam's cell phone. He agreed I should call the guy. Long story short, I called the guy, he had two left (a boy and a girl). I asked for the girl. Fifi and the kids came with dad and I to pick her up last Wednesday.



Lucy is a pure bred Maremma Sheep Dog (classified as a livestock guard dog) and is already almost 5 months old. She has been kept completely isolated from the world. Breeders keep them away from human contact, etc. so that when they get to their home, they bond with and protect the sheep or goats. So, when we got her, she was quiet and nervous and leery of just about everything. Maremmas are an ancient working breed and were bred in Italy 2000 years ago to be independent guardians. Therefore, they are stubborn and do what they want. In fact, they see themselves as equal to humans, and expect to be treated as such. Training them is a challenge and they aren't known to come when you call them...especially when in pursuit. These are all attributes I was familiar with before purchasing her. One characteristic I'm particularly nervous about is that they tend to bark a lot. Bark collars aren't really a good option, as they will often bark more, and if you hit or harm them in any way, they will remember it and dislike you for the rest of their days. She isn't at the barking phase yet, as puppies are just curious and playful and don't have their guarding instincts yet.

On the other hand, Maremmas are extremely loyal and love their families dearly. They are wonderful with children and other animals, and are an excellent judge of character. Of course, we got Lucy as a companion dog, and not as a guard for livestock. However, she will guard her territory...meaning, our other animals will be protected as well. Maremmas also know their boundaries and are not known to wander beyond their home. This is great, as we don't have a fenced field because the elk and deer would destroy it anyway.

So far, Lucy is adjusting very well. She only whined the second night and hasn't since. We are going to try our best to socialize her as much as we can, as soon as we can. It would have been better had we gotten her as a small puppy so that we could have given her more experiences with other animals and people outside the home before she turns into a "teenager"...which, I've read can start at about 6 months. Socializing Maremmas is extremely important if one plans to keep them as companion dogs...otherwise they can be overly guarding and aggressive towards other people and animals outside their home.

After a trip to the vet tomorrow, we're taking Lucy camping with us! Wish us luck!!