Sneak peek...

From the beautiful Sandy River bank to Maya's disgusting feet…more camping photos to come!

Deer visit.

Hey…we went camping this weekend. 

Some totally awesome photos are coming but meanwhile, check out our deer encounter…

O's quote interpretation

In an attempt to prevent the "summer slide" Woody has been leaving quotes for Owen to write about while he's at work.

Here's a recent one…

Another before and after for My...

A full summer of swimming almost every single day did a number on Maya's growing locks.

She wanted to grow it out but the chlorine just destroyed her hair and she grew tired of the 45 minutes it would take me to brush out her thin, fine, brittle hair.

So, back to the bob for Maya...

We think it really suits her anyway so we'll probably forgo the growing out thing for awhile.

Check out Maya in her beautiful new dress.

Our neighbors that live in the apartment above us have become good friends.

They are tearing down their house in the neighborhood and building a new one so they are living in the apartment while that happens.

They have two kids (from the swimming photo a couple posts ago) that OM love and play with every day.

Anyway, the dad went to South Korea and China two weeks ago for work and brought back OM some gifts! 

So thoughtful. :)

Maya got the lovely dress (that she, my dirty birdy, even removed to eat watermelon and then put it back on…she never gives a rip about watermelon stains normally).

O got some excellent pajamas that once upon his body released his inner ninja warrior...

O's backstroke

 As promised…

Summer Splash

We missed the first month of swim team with our trips to North Carolina, South Carolina, and California.

But OH BOY, did OM make up for lost time.

They CRUSHED the summer swim team. 

I mean, these kids are beautiful little fish.

O went from jumping into the water to diving in a month.

 (Remember how scary diving is??)

And both of them went from leisurely swimming down the lane to smoking down the lane, real, real, quick…

We were so impressed with how much endurance and strength they gained and how hard they worked to get there.

This was the first meet. 

See Maya down there talking to Woody?

He was the timer. I was too chicken to time.

Didn't want to mess up.

But it is WARM up here in the stands...

So the next week I agreed to time.

And was A LOT cooler and a lot happier.

Check out my perspective…much better!

This was O before his leg of the relay. He did awesome.

This was another meet, outdoors. 

There are only two outdoor pools in the district, the one OM practiced at and this one.

A very small one with only four lanes.

Either way, being outside in summer is awesome.

Every swim meet except the last one was just two swim teams competing against each other (really, the emphasis is on the kids improving their own times meet after meet and not as much on how they are competing against others).

Last Friday was the last swim practice.

Practice ended a little early so that the kids could design and create a poster to hang at the District Meet where all 7 pools in the district competed against each other.

This is Maya and her friend adding their names to the poster...

There is O back there, on the left.

At the District Meet…our poster was the longest. :)

Some of the Tigers. 

OM and their buddies…their coaches took Sharpies and wrote their Events, Heats, and Lanes on their arms.

I wasn't thrilled with that but that's how these things work...

Ahem. :)

Maya was the top seed in each of her three categories (free style, backstroke and breast stroke). 

She crushed all her races and is the District champ for her three events for girls 6 and under. (Yes she turned 7 two weeks ago but they keep the age you registered at.)

:)

Owen getting ready to crush the backstroke.

He didn't place first but he was 2nd or 3rd for his three events too. 

It was harder to tell with his because there were more kids in his heats and this isn't the Olympics so there was no scoreboard.

Next post I'll have O's event here, the backstroke…

Coming soon. :)

An important lesson...

Last month I got some rough news…

See, we've been trying to buy a house for the past year and a half with no luck. 

We've come close a couple of times but for various reasons things fell through.

Then, in late July we found a house that would be just perfect for us.

And by perfect I mean it was built in the 50's, is covered in Bald Eagle wallpaper, has only one bathroom, and a natural reserve as the backyard (there are A LOT of trees and invasive Ivy).

But, it's also got a decent floor plan, has only had one owner since it was built, is half an acre pretty close-in to Portland, and is oozing with charm. 

And it has a breezeway. 

I love the breezeway. 

So, so much.

But, we were outbid. 

By investors. 

They offered cash (not sure how much, but more than us), no home inspection and no home appraisal.

Even though I wrote a compelling letter (with a pretty awesome photo of the family and the most awesomest dog ever, Star)  urging them to pick us, they didn't.

I took it pretty hard.

I try not to cry in front of OM but I just couldn't help it.

I was super duper bummed.

So, I was sitting on the couch, crying. 

Hard. 

And O was like I'm so sorry Mom. 

He felt bad for me. 

Poor kid.

Maya was sitting next to me on the couch, ever the optimist...

She said, "Mom, it's not the house that matters, it's the people."

Sigh.

That's right sweet thing, we have each other. 

 Sweet, sweet girl.

So, life moves on and we keep taking it day by day.

And, then I get a call from our broker.

The first offer fell through, they want to know if we're still interested??

Oh my word.

Umm…yes!

So, now we're doing a home inspection next week.

It's still not a done deal but this is how I'm feeling now…

We'll keep you posted on the house situation but either way…

it's not the house, it's the people…

And I've got some pretty incredible people.