updates from preschool

Liesl's preschool teachers email the parents a Daily Page nearly every day, with photos and descriptions of the children's activities. They are really incredible snapshots of Liesl's fun activities and the incredible guided learning that takes place at her preschool. Here are some of my favorites from October

Seb's school poster

For homework this past week, Sebastian had to complete a "newspaper" project, creating a front page with pictures, stories, captions, cartoons, and ads. It was more involved then his homework usually is and took some concentrated effort (on everyone's part).

"My story is about moving from New York to here, Portland. There were a lot of tall buildings and good food. Back then (three years ago) we lived in an apartment * in Irvington on the Hudson River. Port Chester is a city 20 minutes away from us, had a lot of fun places. I was sad to leave my family. There were big trucks that carried our stuff and our car. It was fun to drive around looking for a new house. I like that here I have a quiet block, not a busy city street. I have lots of soccer freinds to play with."

 "This is me playing soccer for the Eagles, my soccer team. I am about to score a goal."

"Meet My Hero: My Mom. My Mom is a good cook. She plays games with me and my sister. She earns enough money to buy clothes for us. She is very funny."

"I am 7 years old. I am in 2nd grade. My teacher is Ms. daley. The members of my family are mom, dad, Liesl and me. Some of my friends are Frances, nathan, Alex, whiatt, and jack. My favorite food is strawberry shortcake. My favorite sport is soccer. My favorite tv show is I don't have one. My favorite song is I like to move it, move it. My favorite school activity is reading. When I grow up I want to be a soccer player! The nickname I'd choose for myself is Seb."

"The best book I ever read: Soccer Team Upset, by Fred Bowen. Tyler (the main character) has to play his best friend in the champinship game for the soccer trophy."

Draw a cartoon that tells something about you - this is Sebastian surrounded by books on all sides. (He takes after his Grandpa Avery.)

Since he doesn't have a favorite movie, he decided to write about watching sports highlights on espn.com.

butterfly girl

A walk in Forest Park on Sunday afternoon with my butterfly girl (and Baby Foofoo). I'm so glad she's feeling better. The sun came out after the cool fogginess of the morning and it was gorgeous - in the forest, the leaves are changing color and falling, but it remains still sun-dappled and green. I love fall, and the woods, and my sweet Liesl.

Plumper Pumpkin patch

We went pumpkin patching this morning, to Plumper Farms, and came home with the requisite oversupply of orange gourds and two happy/muddy children. The day started out a little cold and misty, but it warmed up over the morning, and we had a really fun time.  I was especially delighted to see Liesl so happy and full of energy - she's been terribly sick all week with what turned out to be an unusual form of strep throat (no sore throat or fever; vomiting and intense stomach pain). It was awful and she is still not eating very much, but she's improving every day and we are so relieved.

 

Good thing pumpkins were 30 cents a pound. 

I love the body language of this photo - Liesl leaping through the tire that marked the finish line of the obstacle course, and Sebastian cheering and reaching out to give her a high-five.

 Sebastian had better bowling form, but Liesl's pumpkin sailed through the target at the end. :)

 

On your mark, get set, go!!!

Jumping hay bales.

 Jumping into a grain tub.

 A (very small) corn maze. We will have to seek out a bigger one for our next pumpkin patching.

Liesl's favorite, the pony ride. Although she did note that she was getting too big for the ponies, and too big for such a tame ride. She wants a big horse that can go galloping off across the fields, evidently.

This is one of those mysterious gaps between parents and children: I really cannot understand why the barrel train ride is any fun at all. And they love it.

happy/busy/fun weekend

We had a weekend jam-packed with fun activities and events - we were out and about nearly all day both days. After a busy week of school and work and sports, both kids tucked into bed early tonight, without complaint, after nearly falling into their dinners. And now it's late Sunday night and I'm wishing that I had one more day of the weekend in which to relax, get some chores done, putter around the house and kitchen, answer emails... Although it's more likely than not that if I did have a free day tomorrow, I would head out into the world again, in search of a pumpkin patch or a fall hike or something else.

On Thursday night, Steve took Sebastian to see the Women's Major League soccer championship game at Providence Park. Various friends were in the stadium - the Hoangs, the Bedards, the Reulands - confirming for me, once again, that this is a pretty small city.  :)  The game itself was apparently lacklustre, but it's always fun to see a live sporting event. (And Seb got to see Frances, which made it a worthwhile evening in and of itself.)

Friday evening, Steve met up with a work colleague for dinner while the kids and I made smoked salmon sushi rolls for dinner. It was so much easier than I expected or remembered! We'll definitely have that for dinner again.

On Saturday morning, Liesl had dance class and then we went to Powell's Books (for a gift) and the library (to return and restock). We returned home to eat lunch and pick up Sebastian, and headed to the SW for his soccer game. The Eagles played well - Seb scored 3 goals - and Liesl played on the playground with her new soccer buddy, Diya (Nathan's younger sister).  After the game, we went to Custer Park for an afternoon birthday party. It was a gorgeous late-September day, sunny and warm and crisp, and the sun getting low enough by the end that the light slanted through the trees. The kids played with their friends, whacked a pinata, and ate cake. We had dinner at Teote - arepas and pork and beans and plantains - before returning home to sleep.

Today we caught an early Max train to the Northwest Children's Theatre in order to see a 10 am performance of Elephant & Piggie, a musical based on the popular Mo Willems children's books. The show was short and sweet, with the characters enacting the storylines of six different books.  There was quite a lot of singing and dancing - more than Seb wanted, perhaps - and some audience participation. We got to have a fun conversation later about the concept of the 4th wall, and breaking it, plus how the production accomplished some of the special effects, and the point of the stage wings, and why the actors didn't wear face masks to look more realistically elephantine and swinish, and the similarities and differences between the books and the play. It was worth it for the conversation alone.

We had lunch at the Hoangs' - sour fish soup, a Vietnamese specialty courtesy of Cuong - which was delicious. Fish, tamarind, okra, taro, bean sprouts, tomato, pineapple, cilantro, over brown rice - so good and comforting and homey. I brought a kale-apple salad and an apple cake, for a little unholy mixing of east and west culinary traditions. And then we went on a long ramble through Marshall Park, the kids running ahead and around us, throwing rocks into streams, Seb tossing his football to anyone who would play catch, Liesl and Camille pretending to talk on their cellphones (sticks)...  a perfectly lovely day with friends.

To bed, to bed - another busy week ahead. It must be fall.

apple baking

Let the apple baking begin: 81 lbs of fruit is no joke! (Plus, I was spending a lot of time this week avoiding a particular work project... procrastination makes me an especially prolific cook. There were lamb meatballs and stromboli this week, salmon sushi handrolls and oat bread, coconut-pecan granola and rye pancakes...)

Apple crisp (8 apples), butternut squash and apple soup (3 apples), oatmeal-cranberry yeast bread

Last October, I made three different apple cakes: (this, this, and this). The year before, two different apple cakes: this and this.  Today I experimented with yet another: "mom's apple cake" (6 apples).  No clear winner yet, although this latest one was pretty good. More apple cakes to come!

commuters

For the last couple of weeks, Liesl and I have been experimenting with commuting into work and preschool on the Max train, rather than driving. The traffic during the school year is wretched, turning a quick and easy 14-minute drive into a boring/dangerous 35-minute slog. Our public transit commute begins with either taking the shuttle bus or Steve dropping us off at the Max station. The train ride is short and we cuddle and read books together; we get off in Goose Hollow and walk a half mile to PSU. The walk is not amazing - up through some unlovely streets, across the pedestrian walkway over the noisy highways and their entrance ramps, and past all of the homeless people on the sidewalks. (Liesl commented on Wednesday morning: "It doesn't smell as bad as usual today!") I thought Liesl might find the walk too long and the commute tiring, but so far she loves it: she loves the Max train and skips on our walk, peers around the corner on the way home to see if we need to run for the train, and had a total tantrum on Thursday morning when I insisted on driving. (Plus, Sebastian is unspeakably green with envy that she gets to ride the train every day.) 

So I returned my quarterly parking pass to PSU for a refund, and bought a monthly Trimet pass instead. Wish us luck in the rainy season!

 In other news - there was a crazy parade outside my house the other day. :)