Snow Day, again!

We are now on day four of the "actic blast," as our news stations have dubbed it. This is the third day without school, and the natives are becoming restless! We are getting more snow today, tomorrow, and Sunday. I am pretty sure the kids will not be going back to school until after Christmas - I hope we make it through!

Snow Day!

We had about 4 inches of snow yesterday morning, and it has shut our city down! When we get snow everything turns into an ice rink. Church was cancelled, school was cancelled, and we have already been told that school is cancelled for tomorrow. My kids are in heaven!

Rebekah, Michael and Rachel running up the hill after sliding down
Josh and Elizabeth sliding together

Rachel fell while sliding down the hill

Michael shoveling snow for a fort

Elizabeth and Rebekah sliding

Wizard of Oz

Rachel had the opportunity to be a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz at our high school. She LOVED it! The cast, crew and directors were so good to work with. Rachel was definately tired out by the end, so many practices and performances, but she really enjoyed every minute!

Rachel with Dorothy - Dorothy was really an amazing performer, and had a beautiful voiceRachel was so excited at how many friends and family came to see her play. Thank you Janessa and girls, Grandma Debbie, Grandma and Grandpa Jamison, and the Ulrichs for coming to support Rachel. Thank you also for the flowers and stuffed animals--she was super excited!

Here are some video clips from a dress rehearsal. Rachel is just right of the guy wearing black in the first video. Sorry about the poor video quality, the stage lights and my camera didn't get along very well.

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree...

We went and found our Christmas tree at a tree farm this weekend. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! It was definately not normal Oregon tree cutting weather, we usually go in the rain and cold. We had another perk - Paul was able to go with us. Normally we don't see him very much at all in November and December with it being the busy season at UPS. There is one good thing about a recession, I get my husband home more! He is still working 12 hour days, but at least it isn't 16-18 hour days like most years!

It was great to have Paul with us. We decided to have a gingerbread theme tree this year, so we strung mints to use as garland, and made gingerbread cookies and decorated them.

Elizabeth stringing mint garlands

Rachel decorating a gingerbread man

Rebekah decorating gingerbread people

Christmas tree farm

Elizabeth cutting our tree

tree decoratingLiz and Rebekah taking care of garlandJosh decoratingHere's the finished product! I think it ended up being really cute!Merry Christmas!

Glow bowl fun!

We went bowling as a family and had a great time. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Jamison, we were finally able to use our gift card! Our scores certainly leave something to be desired, but we had fun together, and some great memories. Once again Michael was able to evade me, and I have no pictures that include him--he was with us!

Funny Videos

A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning an apartment, and Rachel was home sick so she came with me. She layed on the floor with a pillow and blanket and listened to my ipod. I didn't know she was also making videos of herself until I went to download other videos tonight. I couldn't stop laughing at this one.

Rachel is such a comedian. She always keeps us laughing.

Rachel was a munchkin in "The Wizard of Oz" at our high school last month. I asked her if she was going to be Dorothy someday, and she said that she would really want to be the witch. This is Rachel's witch portrayal--she did a pretty good job of grasping the evil witch feel. This was after one of their performances about 11:00 pm, and she was pretty punchy. It's kind of hard to tell what she is saying, but she is doing the part where the witch decides to use the poppies to make Dorothy fall asleep so that she won't make it to Oz.

Lots of catching up!

I have not posted forever, so I am playing catchup! We spent Thanksgiving with Paul's family. Paul's dad rented a grange hall, and our favorite activity was Bingo, with lots of prizes that grandma and grandpa provided, and a Paul was a very funny bingo caller. We had great food and a lot of fun together.

This is the Jamison version of musical chairs - it was really wild! People kept grabbing chairs and dragging them along with them. It was a lot of fun.

Halloween pictures

Halloween was a lot of fun. We had Trunk or Treat at the church a few days before Halloween. The teenagers were in charge of games and a haunted house, and everyone had a good time. On Halloween night we all went our separate ways - Michael, Elizabeth, Rebekah and Josh all went with friends, which left me with only Rachel! Another sign that everyone is growing up, I guess. Janessa and her girls and Rachel's friend, Sami, went trick or treating with us. The girls were really funny, they were ready to come home after about 1/2 hour, and we convinced them that they only got to go trick or treating once each year! Lindsay said, "yeah, but we go every year!" It was really cute, Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays as a kid, so it's hard to understand their mentality!

Josh and Nate - Josh made a voting booth, and had people vote for president with their candy
Rachel and Sami
Lindsay, Rachel, Sami, Ashley and Haley

Rachel in her munchkin costume

Elizabeth was an angel

Michael was Ozzy Ozborne

Rebekah spent the night with a friend, so I didn't get a picture of her.

Rachel's Historical Scavenger Hunt

All of the third and fourth graders in our school had a historical scavenger hunt this morning. They went to 20 different stations around town where someone dressed up and told them a story or the historical significance of the area they were standing in. Our group was a bit wild - most groups had about 6 kids and 2 adults, my group had me and 13 kids. I guess that's what happens when you have five kids, teachers know you can handle a big group! We started at a park next to the river, and ended at the kid's school, which is about two miles away, and may I also add across several busy intersections. A little scary with a big group of kids crossing roads!

It was really funny when the kids finally realized that the bus wasn't coming back for them - I just assumed they knew what the agenda was. They all did great, even though they thought it was way too far to walk. I didn't have any time to take pictures during the activity because I was too busy counting heads :) but I took a few pictures on my way home. There are some really cool things the kids learn about our local history. This is my fourth, and last time helping with the scavenger hunt. I find that I am having many firsts and lasts recently, with one kid going into high school, and our last halfway through elementary school. It's fun, but a little sad too!

original iron smelter - this has been around for 150 years
Willamette river - a woman dressed as a pioneer teacher told a story about how the kids in Lake Oswego used to go down to the river and row across to the other side for school each day. They also took turns housing their school teacher for a week at a time. Our kids were glad that they don't need to let their teacher take turns living with them!
This is the "peg tree." It is an enormous tree that the early settlers would put pegs into to hold their lanterns. You can see the bored holes going down the trunk that the pegs fit into. The kids would gather under the peg tree for Sunday School because it was such a big tree it would protect them from the rain.
This is a house of one of the city councilors who played a large role in our city's development. There were originally two iron smelters in town, and one was torn down, but George Rogers fought to keep the other one as a historical site. He built his house from the stones of the smelter that was removed.
There was another story of a person who had a pet bear and would come into town with it. He would tie it to a tree while he was at work, but it was too scary for some of the kids in town, so he set the bear free in the woods.
It was a fun way to spend the day, and great for the kids to learn some of the history of our city.

Rachel's canoe trip

Rachel went on a canoe trip with her class where they learned about Lewis and Clark and some Oregon history. She had a lot of fun, and we were sent some cute pictures.

Musicals

I have been on a Gene Kelly kick recently. I have found that it is much more enjoyable to iron if I have something fun to watch, so I have been multitasking. I love the more popular movies he was in like "Singing in the Rain", but I have seen some fun ones recently that I hadn't seen before like "On the Town," "Anchor's Aweigh," and "Take Me out to the Ballgame." If you like musicals, a really fun one that is kind of obscure is "Neptune's Daughter." It has Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban (he was the guy in Fantasy Island) and is a great show. That's where the song "Baby, it's cold outside" came from. Here are a few links for some of my favorites:

Neptunes Daughter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAdEYU3btg

Singing in the Rain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkEvy-9yVyQ

Brigadoon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8Od2idW0KM (this is where my name came from - "The Heather on the Hill")

On the Town: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v7QfCxuvLo (this one has Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra)

Xanadu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWEwzzTYgDU (we used to watch this movie over and over as kids - now my girls love it!)

Enchanted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRYU4cqUAUs not a classic, but still really fun

Cross Country Meets

Rebekah had her first meet of the year last week. It is a really tricky course for several reasons: first, for most of the course there are holes in the ground every few feet because of moles and there are beehives in some of the holes; second, the course is hilly; third, many of the kids were running with bee stings. It seems really crazy to me that they have a race at this particular park every year, because this was our third year going, and the third year that many kids were stung. Rebekah and Elizabeth were each stung once, and Rebekah's friend was stung five times, and had to run 1/2 hour later. CRAZY!
Anyway, Rebekah did pretty well, especially considering the challenges. She finished the two mile course in 16:03.
Rebekah at the finish line
Elizabeth and Rebekah
The second meet of the year was yesterday, and Rebekah finished in 15:08! Pretty good to cut a minute off of her race time! The cool thing about this race was the 8th grade boys and girls ran together, and Rebekah was the fifteenth girl to finish the race, and she finished ahead of a lot of the boys. She is a great runner! She is not deterred by her height at all, even though most of the kids her age are a lot taller.
Rebekah is a great example to me of modesty. She always wears a t-shirt under her jersey for modesty's sake - even on hot days. I love you Rebekah! Rebekah at the finish with some of her friends

Busy, Busy, Busy!

There is too much going on now for details, but here are some highlights:

All of the kids are enjoying school this year and doing well. They are spread out between three different school, which has made for crazy calendaring with different days off and early release days. We also have Josh leaving for school at 6:57, Elizabeth, Michael and Rebekah at 7:30, and Rachel at 8:30, so it's a constantly moving morning around here. Elizabeth is in an early band class at the junior high, so she takes the bus with Michael and Rebekah. She is learning to play the flute, so we have flute, piano, clarinet, tuba, and trumpet players.

Michael got to play on the starting line for the first time for his football game Saturday! He was really excited about it. Michael doesn't let me take pictures if he knows the camera is around, but I caught him a few times. I love Michael's stance, something about it is really cute. He always stands with his hands on his hips, and his toes pointed outward. Michael is #13. They won this game, and Michael got in on some tackles and blocked a PAT.

I have started taking a weekly institute class on the book of John, and I am really excited about it. I have been in primary for so long, it is really nice to take a class with other adults. I am also in the process of becoming a regular temple volunteer in the cafeteria. Today was my third time helping, I work a 4-5 hour shift once each week. It's a lot of fun. I help with cooking, serving, and running the cash register. My bishop has the paperwork to make me official, and once it is turned in I will be set apart by the temple president. I am really excited that I can serve in the temple.

We have successfully completed two back to school nights, and have the high school tonight. I am scared, I feel like I really shouldn't be there because there are so many parents who are my parent's ages. It's a bit awkward, but I've got to go, so I'll grin and bear it :)

Rachel and Elizabeth tried out to be munchkins in our high school's "The Wizard of Oz" production. They both did great in their audition, and Rachel got a part. She is super excited. I think that Elizabeth is just too tall to be a munchkin - she has an amazing voice and really did well during her audition. The director was a bit overwhelmed by the turnout - they had about 150 kids try out, and had planned to cast only 20. They decided to cast 40 instead because of the amount of interest. The performances are in November and should be a lot of fun.

Rebekah is in cross country and has her first meet tomorrow. Josh is the team manager for her team (Josh was at the junior high's first practice watching Rebekah, and the coach asked him to be the team manager. He was on the junior high team for two years and did not join cross country this year because he needs to focus more on grades. So much for that idea!)I think he likes the power- a lot of the kids think he is really cool. I will let you know how Rebekah does in her first meet. She ran two miles yesterday in under 14 minutes, so she is doing really well in her training.

I finished writing the primary program last week and got all of the parts distributed to parents. Now I am working on the seating chart (very important - this can make or break our program!). I will be really relieved when the program is finished. We have our first practice this Sunday, so I also need to print packets for all of the teachers with the program and music. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed!!! (but I do love primary, and I love my calling - thought I needed that disclaimer!)

Mushroom hunting adventure

Every year we go to Mt. Ranier searching for golden chantrelle mushrooms and huckleberries. It's a tradition that started with Paul's grandfather when Paul was a teenager. Grandpa is gone now, but we really enjoy going with our children and Paul's mom. It is so much fun to go tromping through the forest looking for those priceless gems. We picked about 15 pounds of mushrooms this year. For the first time in fifteen years we were not able to pick huckleberries :( It has been too cold this summer, and the berries are still green! It was a little disappointing, but we had a fun day anyway.Rachel and Elizabeth cutting some mushrooms - they are tricky to spot sometimes, so you need to keep a sharp eye to avoid stepping on them, or missing them all together!
The happy hunters!

Here's what the mushrooms look like on the ground. I was hoping to get a picture of a giant one (we find some that are about 2-3 inches across on a good year) but most of them were pretty small this year.
Rebekah is a willing picker, but does not like to eat mushrooms! She said that she will continue the tradition with her family as far as huckleberries go, that might be it though.
Michael cutting a mushroom - they need to be cut rather than pulled so that they regrow.
Josh the manThe kids had fun riding in Grandma Debbie's trunk. They rode up and down the road while waiting for us to finish coming down the hillside.
This is what they look like after being cleaned - it takes a long time to clean them because of pine needles, dirt, moss - but they are well worth the effort, and fantastic in stroganoff, gravy and spaghetti. I can the extra mushrooms when we come home with a lot, but this time we are just enjoying them.