Happy Great-Grandmother's Day

Mom, you truly are a greatgrandmother! Here are just a few reasons why...

At your office, Dec 2009. 

You are amazing - a career at 72!

Cute and cuddly. You and Dad have always been sweethearts.

Your home is so welcoming and comfortable.

All your grandchildren and their spouses love to spend time with you.

Sarah loved learning "Funny Little Dutch Girl."

You and Dad are always ready for an adventure.

Family times are the best.

I could go on and on...

I love you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Such a nice human to share the planet

We had a great class this morning with Robin Cody. He is such a genuine, authentic, down-to-earth person. The kids really got a lot out of it. Listening to authors like Robin gives me courage for my own writing.

Schedule

Some days are pretty crazy-busy. Today was one of them. But I'm not too stressed, and I managed to get things done (barely) before the deadlines.

Tomorrow I have an author, Robin Cody, coming to my class. He's come before when I teach Oregon Literature, because we use his novel, Ricochet River, with that class. He just came out with a new book, Another Way the River Has, which is a collection of nonfiction essays, so he's going to come talk with my creative nonfiction writing students.

Friday is an in-service and grading day. I'll make one presentation, and I'm the one in charge of setting up the schedule for 20-ish presenters, and making sure everybody is somewhat happy. I hope. Grading time in the afternoon - it's the midterm already, for the last term of the year! Yay!

Angela and Tim and the three kids will come into town Friday evening. They'll sightsee and try to fall in love with Portland on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday evening Tim has a meet-and-greet dinner event with the doctors in the clinic where he's interviewing, and he'll spend all day with them on Monday. They'll fly home late Monday afternoon. The weather forecast looks decent. Angela really wants to move up here to be close to family, but every time Tim has been here, it's rained, so she's really hoping for good weather.

Maleena's bridal shower is Saturday from 11:00-2:00. I haven't seen her in several weeks, since she started working at Home Depot. It will be the first time in quite a while for me to see Ashley. Holly will be there, of course, and Angela will come for at least part of it. Not sure who else will be there, but it will be good to see the girls.

Time to put the computer away and get some papers graded.

Early to Bed & Chris' Graduation

I'm tired. A busy week, lots on my plate, not sleeping well...I've just decided to put all those tasks aside for tonight. I'm going to read a little, and get to bed early. Sleep deprivation is no good.

Here are some family photos. Kendra posted graduation pictures on Polly's website at myfamily.com. Not sure if you have access to that, so I've borrowed a couple to post here for you.

Chris walking across the stage. He is carrying Charlie, and Abbi is walking beside him. Laurie Last bought kid-sized graduation hats for both of the kids.

With some of their good friends - you can see the kids' hats here.

Right after graduation...they posed for photos, and then Chris had to leave to go to his master's class.

Kat the Cat...

...and Sarah the Butterfly

Twin shot...
(Can you tell that Sarah has been losing teeth?)

Josh got a balloon hat and a new haircut.

Fun stuff for the kids as part of a local business promotion.
Josh's shirt is funny.
It says, "I wish my sister had a mute button."

Holly's new blog

Holly has a new blog. I posted the link in the list on the right. You can also get to it by clicking here. I'm not sure if she's going to just write on this blog now, or if she will also keep the other one going, so I've left both links for now.

We had a wonderful getaway. I wrote more about it on The Skinny. We'll be outside doing yardwork all afternoon, but go ahead and call and leave us a message - we'll get back to you.

Love you! Happy May Day!

Ethan update

I checked on Hillary's family blog today, and realized that she has posted a bunch of new photos. In the past, she had put out a note on her public blog when she updated the family blog, so we'd know to go check, but she hasn't done that lately. Anyway, I think you can get on her family blog, and there are a bunch of sweet photos when you have a minute to scroll through them.