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!!
