Silver Creek Falls State Park

Mostly this is just going to be a bunch of pictures I took at Silver Creek Falls last Sunday. The weather was awesome. It was warm, almost seemed like summer.



This is a picture of the boys probably right after they all chucked a bunch of pine cones off the bridge. Nothing is more fun that throwing stuff off a bridge.









This is Ike at South Falls, its a little blurry but you can tell he was really excited about the whole thing. You can tell he must be excited if he was willing to pose for a picture.















Duane had to carry Simon most of the way partly because he was tired and partly because he was really scared of the waterfall!












A butterfly landed on Simon's shirt during the hike. I can't believe I was quick enough to get a picture of it.












A decent family portrait thanks to the timer of my camera.











Ike and Simon wade in the ridiculously cold water. Their feet turned bright red but they claimed they weren't cold! I remember swimming in the Pacific when I was a kid. My tolerance for cold water has certainly changed.












Simon the cheesecorn hamming it up for the camera.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

A few weeks ago, I made my own laundry detergent. I got the recipe off the Duggar's website. I think a lot of what they do is totally crazy, however, I think the cost of laundry detergent is also ridiculous. Moreover, I like a project. It was pretty easy to do. First you grate a whole Fels Naptha bar and mix it with 4c hot water. Cook it until it melts. It looks like this when you are cooking it:



It took a pretty long time. I thought the soap would melt easier and threw in a couple chunks instead of making sure every piece was finely grated. I will definitely be more careful next time. Here's a picture of me cooking it.



Finally fill a 5 gallon bucket half full with hot water. Add 1 cup of arm & hammer washing soda (I found it at Winco) and 1/2 cup of borax and then the melted soap. Stir that all up. It blended together almost instantly. Here's how it looks:




Finally fill the bucket the rest of the way up. Let it sit overnight. Then mix 1 part detergent to 1 part hot water to use. I use 1/4 c per load in my front-loader. The negatives to this are that is a very odd consistency and it gels up while it sits around. However, its dirt cheap and it works really well. Clothes come out with not scent just clean.

If you are in the Salem area and would like to try it out just bring a bottle by and I'll pour you some. We have plenty!

Old College Friends

Yesterday I met up with one of my best friends from college, Kala, and her husband and daughters. We met up in Eugene which was cool because that's where Kala and I had been friends. We first hit the science factory and then Roaring Rapids Pizza.
I love Ike in this picture. He was making a run from it following his brother's stellar example. That is Mia on the left and Ela in the middle. They were cool kids, funny personalities -- pretty much what I would expect of Kala's offspring.

It seems like sooo long ago that I was a nerdy college student studying math and drinking beer at the local crappy bars. I remember going to hang out at Kala's tiny 2 bedroom house where we would drink coffee with brown sugar and work math problems on her white board. For breaks we would play pool and drink beer at this total dive bar called Cher's. I am pretty sure one of the lights was out on the sign so it read Che's. Good times. I'll really have to dig through my old photo albums and post some pictures.

Saturday Morning with Simon

Simon and I had a great morning together. Duane had taken Ike to Home Depot to build a butterfly house and Simon and I stayed home together. We did "spring cleaning" which sounds fun to a 2 year old. Here is a picture of him washing the plastic easter eggs that the Easter Bunny fills with candy. Ike & Simon did a lot of practice egg hunts and they were looking a little grimy.

We also managed to wash the playdoh cookie cutters and put them all away, clean the kitchen counter tops, mop the floor and do 2 loads of laundry. All in all very productive.

Simon is a roller coaster these days so I try to really focus and remember the times when he is sweet and cute. Later this morning my sister called and said my dad was in the hospital again. I spent the rest of the day at Providence Hospital so needless to say the morning I spent with Simon was the highlight of my day.

I think my dad is doing OK. He just hasn't been the same since he had his heart attack last September. Its really hard because I really have no idea what to do to help.

First Week of the Term Madness

The first week of any term is always kind of crazy. This first week is just insane. We are trying out a new schedule -- half days for the kids at daycare and everyone is having trouble adjusting to it. I have to teach an 8:00 class which means I have to leave the house by 7 before the kids even get up. I don't like getting up early and I know how hard it is on Duane to get both the kids up, dressed, fed, and out the door in a timely fashion.

Moreover, the whole stress of kindergarten is getting to me. I really really wanted Ike to be able to go to the local public kindergarten but I surrender. I just can't swing it. For one thing, kindergarten lasts for 2.5 hours. Seriously, I thought it would be at the very least 3 hours. Secondly, they can't guarantee us a spot in morning kindergarten since we live within walking distance of the school. The admin told us that there was a chance we could get morning kindergarten because people often switch and that we would find out in August. Um, what if I wait until August and we DON'T get morning kindergarten. Then exactly what is Ike supposed to do for kindergarten???? Seriously August. They can't get it figured out before then?

So anyway I went and visited the Periwinkle Child Development Center at LBCC where I teach. It was really, really nice. They have a full day 9-2:30 kindergarten curriculum and all the teachers have masters degrees in education. What's even better is there is a CO-OP option. If you enroll in a special child education class at LBCC (which I don't have to pay for since I am faculty) and volunteer 4 hours a week in your child's class (which I think would be awesome anyway) you can get kindergarten for $400 a term. That's for 4 months!

Simon can go to preschool there for an additional $500 a term. One of my friends on the faculty sends both her boys and she gave it rave reviews. I have heard the same from several students who send their kids there as well.

So what are the negatives? Well for one, Ike will have to start first grade and be a new kid. Secondly, I HAVE to go in to work every day. I like to work from home when I don't have class. Thirdly, kindergarten starts the second week of september but preschool & my classes don't start until late September. So for probably 2 weeks I will have to drive to Albany, drop off Ike, drive home??, and then drive back to pick him up at 2. With Simon. Yikes. Maybe my mom can babysit Simon some of those days and I can just stay in Albany and get some work done. Finally, I don't think Ike can get his speech therapy at the kindergarten in Albany since it is through Salem. This isn't as bad as it sounds because his current speech teacher said she really didn't think Ike would qualify for speech therapy as a kindergartener anyway. This is a good thing because he has made such awesome progress with his speech classes.

Okay - gym bag is packed, lunch is packed, coffee is ready to go on delay timer, I am ready to go to bed. Tonight I finish The Three Musketeers which is an awesome book if you haven't ever read it. Tomorrow I hope for nice weather, we're dyeing eggs and I would LOVE to do it outside.