Memorial Day Lesson

We live about 3-4 miles from Willamette National Cemetery and drive by it every day on the way to and from work/school.  It is a gorgeous area with rolling hillsides, mountain views, and tranquil manicured grounds.  Very beautiful!  Today was a little different though....

In honor of Memorial Day, they have placed a small flag by each and every stone in honor of those who fought for our country.  Micah and Jonah had a half day of school today so we decided to turn into the cemetery as the gates were open and many cars were driving through.  It was a perfect teachable moment for these two little ones who, at their age, have a hard time seeing past their own little world sometimes.  I think they were impacted by the number of flags and the way they were all in perfect rows.  We then parked the car and walked through, reading some of the names and the wars they had fought in.  Micah was very interested as we had just had a discussion about WWII the other day.... when it was, what it was about, and I told her that her great-grandfather (Pearce's grandfather) had fought in it.  She was very proud to mention that her Apa had fought in WWII during a discussion at school earlier this week as well.  I also shared with them all the others in our families who had served our country ranging from WWII to today.

We talked about all of the families effected by these times of war and the loss of family members.  We prayed for them as we drove through the heart-grabbing sea of flags.

~ there is a beautiful mountain backdrop ~

 (the picture does not due it justice)

~ amazed ~

A HUGE THANK YOU

 TO OUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND TO ALL THOSE WHO SERVE OR HAVE SERVED OUR COUNTRY TO MAKE OUR FREEDOM POSSIBLE!! 

We are CELEBRATING YOU this MEMORIAL DAY!!

With sincere love,

the beissinger family

Micah is SEVEN!

~ PARTY PREPARATIONS ~

We decided on a chinese lantern theme and these were the invitations....

An outdoor venue was a bit of a risky choice this time of year as it is technically still the rainy season in Oregon but we went for the park party anyway. 

REAL chinese lanterns for decorations would double as a unique favor idea as well.

 (before assembly)

(after assembly)

~ THE MENU ~

The food choices made by Micah.... Banana sandwiches, Ham sandwiches, Doritos, strawberries, and veggie sticks w/ ranch dressing.... followed by a lovely Vanilla cake with Nutella for frosting. :-) 

(P.S. For anyone planning on trying the Nutella as frosting idea... it is VERY STICKY and difficult to spread on a cake without tearing it apart... you'll need to use a thick layer of Nutella!)

  

Cake "Before"

Cake "After"... with Miss Owl watching over them for us.

 Micah really wanted a pinata and we found this adorable owl pinata that worked to tie in the colors of the lanterns... I think I was more excited about this than she was through.

~ GAMES ~

Well, in this day and age, Pin the Tail on the Donkey seems behind the times and this was replaced by a silly game of "Pin the Beak on the Angry Bird".
Thanks to a Do-It-Yourself website we made it ourselves.
We also planned for an egg relay, reverse charades, and a pinata.

~ PARTY DAY ~

Our pavillion at the park.

The Lantern Decor. 

Pinata hanging and ready!

Before lunch we worked up our appetite with some GAMES....

A good old fashioned relay race while balancing an egg on a spoon (hard-boiled egg of course).

Micah had fun cheering her friends on.

Pin the Tail on the Angry Bird... Micah won!

~ LUNCHTIME ~

Banana, cinnamon/sugar sandwiches.

The ham and butter sandwiches were a bigger hit... who knew?

Micah eating with her buddies :-)

Little brother Jonah

 Overall, her party day was a huge blessing.... It's always a bit wild to coordinate 20+ four to seven year olds without them getting bored but it was fun!  We are so grateful to everyone who was able to partake in the festivities.  We are amazed at how quickly Micah has made friends being the "new kid on the block".   We had her friends from school, church, and our neighborhood join us for the party.  

On her actual birthday, she received a delivery of balloons and a teddy bear from Doc and Chris... this made for an awesome birthday picture.

So FUN!!!  What kid doesn't love balloons?

Micah sends a big THANK YOU to all her friends and family who sent birthday wishes and gifts!!

Our love to you all!!

Please pray for Micah to have an awesome year.  We CANNOT believe that she is already seven years old.  Seems like yesterday we were snuggling with a tiny little bundle!

(micah at four months old)

Never A Dull Moment

Colorful Encounters

Since moving to the Northwest I have seen more rainbows then I think I have seen throughout my whole life.  It is common for the rain to break periodically, the sun to come out for a bit, and then the rain will start back up while the sun is still out resulting in....

TA DA....beautiful displays of color.

This one was right over our apartment complex and the picture from the phone does not due it justice...

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Portland Christian School - 

2012 Student Showcase & Art Show

Micah's school is very strong academically and we are thrilled that they have not lost the focus on the arts like many public schools these days.  Micah's art teacher is devoted to her work with the kids.  She put together a wonderful, and fun, family event one evening to display all the kids artwork.  

Below, Micah is showing off her Van Gogh landscape replica.   

Her art teacher even keeps a blog of all that is going on behind the scenes in the Art Room.  This is so nice for the parents to see and keep in touch with what they are learning.  

On the blog she describes what Micah's class had been learning:

"1st Grade learned the different parts of a landscape (horizon line, background, middle ground and fore ground) by looking at landscapes by Vincent Van Gogh.  They painted each part of their landscape separately and then we put them together so they were three dimensional in order to emphasize the different parts."

That same evening the student's classrooms were decked out to show off what they had been learning and accomplishing as well.  Micah was very excited to show off her first DIORAMA - a 3-D book report she did.

They were also very creative in using paper and imagination to make their "twin" to sit at their desk.  The kids had a blast designing their look-a-like.  Here is Micah posing with her "twin".... very proud of her hard work! 

Note the detail... eye color, earrings, curly hair... :-)

Micah is getting so big... almost 7 (on the 30th of this month) and one day she wanted me to straighten her hair for her.  I snapped these shots because I thought she looked so grown up... I can almost picture her as an adult when I look at these pics.                                                            

Some silly shots waiting outside the restroom at IKEA.

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Portland Biking Community

Biking is HUGE in Portland and the surrounding areas.  We actually have a bike path that goes right by our house... literally RIGHT by our house.  Pearce is getting me into biking and it is quite fun.  I have gone on a few rides so far and I am hoping for more opportunities to ride this summer.  

Pearce, however, is hard core (surprised?)... he rides his bike to work anyday that is nice enough weather and we live on UPHILL from Portland city.  I am not sure I could even ride up this particular hill if I tried but Pearce loves it and it meets his exercise goals and keeps him in excellent shape.

Riding on the Springwater Corridor... This bike trail actually has a RED LIGHT for the CARS TO STOP when the bikes come up to the intersection!!  Amazing....

*** I should totally have gotten a picture of Pearce all decked out 

with his saddle bags on the commuter bike he rides to work... stay tuned. ***

Pearce and I went on a "Day Date" biking trip this past weekend.... see a 

VIDEO HERE --->>> Biking Day Date

 (yes... Pearce is enjoying this free and EASY app for his iPhone to make these videos)

Down by the river in Portland City.

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Jonah turned 4 :-) followed by a whopping sinus infection :-(

Here is the little guy showing his excitement over a super cool birthday gift....

And here he is a few days later... poor little buddy!  He had a cold that turned into a sinus infection that spread to the soft tissue around his eye (periorbital cellulitis).  It was a bit scary but after two antibiotics followed by an injectable antibiotic he turned the corner and got better.

He looked like he was the victim of a right hook punch!

He was worse before he was better...

Here is the handsome big boy a day or two after the injectable antibiotic....Yay!!  

He was happy and so were we!

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SUPERHERO DAY!!

Micah and Jonah's school celebrates "Spirit Day" once a month.  The theme for the month of March was Superhero Day.  Jonah conveniently had a "Super Why" costume from last halloween (a character from a PBS cartoon about reading).  We had to break out some last minute creativity with Micah.  She made a large "M", which she said stood for Super Micah.  She used sticky foam and stuck it to a shirt... she even added at tiny TM next to the "M" for "Registered Trademark".  Background information: she is always asking questions and had asked us what the tiny TM meant a while back.  She ended up calling herself "Registered Trademark Micah"... hee hee!  Of course a superhero is not complete without a cape and a pillowcase worked great as a makeshift cape.  

She was thrilled with the end result. :-)

A mama and her superheros, ready to conquer the day!

There are many more adventures to share with fun pics to prove it... we will do our best to keep posting as we have time.  

Have a great week!! 

Easter 2012 Vlog (Video Blog)

----->>> Easter 2012 Video (click here)

In the video you will see.....

Our church - where we enjoyed an Easter brunch and a great worship service praising our risen Lord! 

Our house - enjoying its first lawn cutting and looking all pretty and spring-like on this BEAUTIFUL SUNNY Portland Easter.

Scenes from our kitchen after church- Micah and Jonah discovering the contents of their Easter blessing baskets.

Easter dinner at our new friends' house with 5 familes, a fun back yard, an easter egg hunt, and many happy kids enjoying a gorgeous day!!

AND an attempted photo shoot with the family before church... a blinding sun that had not been seen in weeks in combination with hungry tummies posed some challenges.  I am including the "bloopers" as well hoping to bring a smile to your faces.  The picture of us was taken by Micah. ;-)

Smiling for photos is something we are working on with Jonah... he's still a cutie though. :-)

Happy Easter!!!