Adam and his family, muddling through life as always. http://adamandjamie.com/ I'm nursing my mocha this morning, wrapping up the end of an occasionally overwhelming week. Getting all the kids into the new schedule, dealing with plumbing, work craziness, and some disagreements I'll be vague about are all contributing to feeling a little overwhelmed. Fortunately those blissful Mocha Molecules™ are unfurrowing my brow and easing my woes. Sam had a full day of school yesterday, spending much of the morning in his home room. It's in the library, and he tried to describe all his classmates. There's Gus, his locker partner, assorted tall 8th grade girls, a cool 8th grade boy whose name I forget, and a few others. Sam got his classes too, including wood shop and band for his electives. I'm hoping the wood shop class means he can help build a porch for the shed. He generally seemed pretty positive about school, and was quite chatty about it. Hopefully his first day of classes today goes well. I've been trying to make sure he has everything he needs. I paid $90 in fees and passed along another $18 for pictures today. He should have six months worth of lunches for $300. He's been walking with Sophia and Abagail, but may switch to Ben across the street come Monday. We went around the table at dinner last night, asking everyone for cool stories from the day. Emma talked about the bunny at her school. Berry smiled and said hers was a secret. Duncan told of going on the playground with big kids and not being scared. Sam said he got a quarter, which was stolen, then retrieved. He ended up giving it to Duncan with only a little coaxing. Last night we all went to a Roosevelt ice cream social, then ran around Amazon Park. Emma chased Joanna and tickled her. Sam chased Berry all around the play structure. Eventually we made it home and got everyone to bed. Sam did his usual stair stepping while watching Futurama, watched Scrubs, and I sent him to bed. I played Mass Effect 2 and Joanna continued her butterfly growing project. We all collapsed to bed early. This morning was a bit of a madhouse, but we generally made it to school and work on time. It's clear we need a better routine, possibly with a series of alarms and timelines. Ah, the joys of schedules. http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=1&PostingID=7813 Everyone went to their first days of school yesterday. Duncan and Berry got dropped off at the Little French School. Jamie took Emma to Crest. I sent Sam up the hill to walk to Roosevelt, making sure he needed to leave when the big hand got to the three on an analog clock. The little kids seemed to have fun at the Little French School, which is where Emma went before Crest. Berry was pretty tuckered out and took a nap for the first time in months. Unfortunately that meant she was up late last night, so I reminded her teacher to avoid naps in the future. I talked to Emma briefly yesterday, and it sounds like her first day went well. She's coming to my house tonight, so hopefully I can grill her more. Sam's advisor is Honore, the librarian. Ben was duly impressed, as she's supposedly very nice. I think it's awesome that his home room is the library. He liked hot lunch, which is one fewer thing to deal with. Mostly yesterday he met with his Web leaders, who are student advisors, and played assorted games in the gym. Today is also not a real school day, according to Sam. He's meeting his advisor, getting his locker, paying endless fees, and hopefully finding out what his classes are. Tomorrow is the first real day. Joanna and I divided the kids up this morning as the shuttles weren't quite ready yet. I took a smiling Berry to school and went in to work. This afternoon I'm staying at home and supervising plumbers to finally fix the kitchen sink issue. Tonight is an ice cream social for Roosevelt. Busy, busy. http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=1&PostingID=7812 Just one more engagement photo, which just about perfectly captures our personalities- my cool disregard matched by Greg's kooky grin and excited embrace. For the last three days, I've woken myself up in the middle of the night from wedding nightmares. Last night, mom remodeled her house with a three story pink mica water feature in the living room, and a classmate from high school was having her wedding photos taken on a sparkly rock outcropping. The basement, on the other hand, was remodeled into a freaky haunted house. The night before that, I was forced to go through pictures of table card style after table card style, ala Clockwork Orange. Being engaged is awesome. But it's also terrifying and infinitely stressful to plan a wedding, because all the collective expectations can so quickly become an avalanche of Martha Stewart terror-fantasies.  I've started working with a graphic designer and am beginning self-guided meditation. Both seem like good first steps on the road to recovery from early onset wedding anxiety.  http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=9&PostingID=7811 I met Emma at her school's ice cream social.  Endless kids were running about, but her first stop was to see who her teacher would be for next year.  Mrs. Mathesion was the chosen one, and she has a couple friends in her class.  Jamie and I also started the new schedule, so Sam's at my house and I'll get Emma back Thursday night. http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=14&PostingID=7810 It was nice to see everybody! Thank you so much, Adam and Joanna, for putting on your monthly potluck.  A special thanks to the "big" cousins for entertaining the "little" cousins. http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=10&PostingID=7809 Joanna's putting Berry and Duncan to sleep.  Sam and Emma are off at Jamie's.  I'm winding down a full and busy weekend, thinking about all the things I've yet to do. Friday Joanna and I went to listen to Yayoe play Ukulele, eating ice cream and nibbling on Market of Choice deli food.  We snuck briefly into a hair supply place to pick up some red hair color.  The night was warm and wonderful and Yayoe and her band were great as always. Saturday morning I picked up Sam and Emma and fed everyone a hearty breakfast.  Joanna began making peach jam, which ended up continuing into the afternoon while kids played and carried on.  Emma, Berry, and Duncan set up camp in the basement.  Sam watched Scrubs.  After the last of the jam was canned, we headed to the library for a brief outing.  That night Sam and I finished Eagle Eye, continuing the movie that had been filled with car crashes and continued to do so until the end. Sunday we tried normal pancakes by Sam's request, as evidently the endless crepes were getting tiresome.  Sam, Emma, and I went for a bike ride while everyone else went to church.  After lunch we had a big family outing to the river path, running into Jamie, M, and Chase out of the blue.  Everyone's favorite sport seemed to be throwing rocks into the river.  I personally liked the rose gardens, with the endless roses whose smell reminds me of Fruit Loops.  Sam, Joanna, and I watched Sherlock that night, a modern retelling of Sherlock Holmes, which I thought quite good. Jamie picked up Sam and Emma late morning to go to Dave's for a Labor Day BBQ.  We hit up Target for school supplies and I tore down drywall in the basement to get ready for the plumbers.  It's messy work, but hopefully will save me some of the thousands the contractor would have charged. Emma has her ice cream social tomorrow at four, and Berry and Duncan have similar school events.  Sam starts Wednesday at Roosevelt.  Soon the new routine will be upon us. http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=1&PostingID=7808 Just a quick hello before I head off to labor on this Labor Day morning! We've been "spring" cleaning this week.  I've filled Robbie's Audi w/ boxes from the kitchen, and I still have to fit in 2 garbage bags full of old linins.  Both Robbie & I have gutted the old clothes from our closets (we did Isa's clothers at the begining of the summer - but with all of her growing, we could stand to do it again).  Last night we rearranged the living room, opening everything up and making more breathing room.  There's sill a bunch of boxes in our bedroom closet to go through, which scares me! Other than that, we went and picked raspberries yesterday.  There were slim pickings, as most of the berries won't be ready until next week.  We'll try to make a jar or two of jam with what we have, and sneak over to pick more next week. Well, off to work.  I wonder if holidays, like Labor Day, will fall to the way-side as more of the US economy moved towards the service industry.  Remember to thank your grocery clerk, barista, or anyone else working today so that you don't have to! http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=7&PostingID=7807 Joanna and I went for a nice hike around the trails near the hospital.  It was a bit of an adventure, and the trail near the river faded to deer trails and tall grasses.  There had been cougar sightings, so every little noise made Joanna jump a bit.  I joked around, and was somewhat cavalier about it. We'd been hiking for 45 minutes, trying to figure out how to get back to the hospital, when Joanna announced "I see cat ears in the river."  I thought it might be nutria, a rather large rat-like thing, and we continued on.  Within a minute, we heard a deep growling/coughing noise and immediately decided to slowly backtrack and head inland. We got a little giddy on the way back once we reached the big field next to the hospital.  All the people in the gym thought we were pretty awesome for having seen one of the mythical cougars.  I think we'll stick to exercising in the gym next week.   http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=1&PostingID=7806 This week Isa continues to be sick.  She tried school on Tuesday (made it half day), went all day on Wednesday, but was home yesterday and today.  Her nose is swollen and scabby (gross), but she's starting to get better.  She was feeling well enough to create a dark wizards spell book this morning!  On Wednesday Robbie and I went to a farm with our friend Amanda to pick tomatoes.  We stayed to help pick 1000+ pounds of veggies for the food bank, and bringing home 2 large buckets of tomatoes, and a box of peppers, chilies, and mellons.  Isa and I worked late canning tomatoes, and I now have canned tomatoes and tomato sauce to go with my pickeled green beans.  This weekend we're hoping to pick raspberries for jam, and next week it will be apples!  In the next week or two we may go out and dig potatos with Amanda.  I feel a bit like animals hording for the winter! Robbie started work today.  He missed the training in August, so he's in doing an observation with another Title 1 Tutor today.  Next week he should get a regular schedule. http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=7&PostingID=7805 For some reason I woke up at 5:30 a.m., convinced Joanna that getting out of bed was a fine idea, and everyone got to school and work when they were supposed to. Dishes were done, laundry was folded, and the kitchen was cleaned up. Of course, today is the last day of summer school, but it's nice to know that we finally figured out the routine. Last night was busy. I got to say hello to Emma when we returned, who was playing with Berry and Duncan, as well as catching ladybugs. My mom very nicely cleaned and organized Emma's bedroom. The rest of the evening was fairly frantic. I helped Collette put up curtain rods and a couple other things. Then it was off to food shopping, where I somehow managed to get it all in one cart. Returning home, Joanna and I collapsed on the couch to fold laundry and watch Chuck. We also delivered the "sorry I backed into your car" pie to the neighbors, who were quite appreciative. The plumbing issue has turned into a confusing, expensive mess that I'm trying to sort out. Insurance will pay for replacing the ceiling, but not the plumbing. The contractor already charged me $900 to open up the ceiling, and the plumber charged another $600 for the less-than-satisfactory emergency repair. I'm getting a check from the insurance and my hope is that I can somehow do a bunch of the work myself and it won't be quite as crazy expensive as it is. I'm getting a plumbing estimate today, and maybe Monday I'll start cutting holes in walls. There are countless other things to do, such as taking old TVs to be recycled, and selling the Subaru. The sprinkler system is still not working. Still, things are getting done and taken care of. Most of the driveway is empty, and Joanna's office is unpacked. We saved all the bubble wrap and let Berry and Duncan jump up and down on them. Sam and Emma have school supplies and clothes for school. Life is slowly getting organized. My morning mocha was delicious, as always. Tonight Joanna and I are going to watch Yayoe play the ukelele. This weekend the plan is to hang out and get ready for school, perhaps with a berry-picking trip in the middle. Sunday night is the big family dinner. I'm looking forward to seeing my dad after his death-defying open ocean race. http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=1&PostingID=7804 This is the first day in two weeks where both my computer and the internet have been functional. During my computer-free time, I made another dress, which I wore for our engagement photos. Sleeves and pockets are two oft-forgotten features in ready-to-wear dresses that I'm really crazy about. I want to thank all of the wonderful, wonderful people who have sent cards, emails, and called to congratulate us. It is so much fun to be engaged to Greg. I mixed our books together yesterday- what a thrill to have my Lies My Teacher Told Me next to his Sundown Towns! At this point, we're planning a mid-August wedding on a family farm in Maine. There are many more details to iron out, and we're taking advantage of the last week of our mutual vacation before Greg starts school on Tuesday. He's taking three math classes, a computer science class, and an honors political science class his first semester! http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=9&PostingID=7803 This morning Emma directed Duncan and Berry to fetch her herbs from the window box, and cooked herself scrambled eggs for breakfast. Everyone had great fun, and Emma extracted promises that they would come stay with her when she moved to Italy as an adult. Yesterday was fairly remarkable, in odd little ways. The old pipe from the kitchen sink burst last week, after the plumber drilled through it while cleaning it. At the moment that part of the basement has the ceiling removed and there's a temporary pipe that lets us use the kitchen sink. Fortunately insurance is going to pay for all but the deductible, so I think I'll be stuck with a little over a thousand in damages. That's strangely the good news, as otherwise it would be over three thousand. Jamie and I also appear to have reached an agreement on spousal support. I think that means that we can finally get something written up and signed relatively soon. The next few years will be tight financially, so I'm hoping no more pipes burst until then. I've arranged for Sam to walk to Roosevelt with a couple girls from the neighborhood. Hopefully that'll increase his street cred, or at least minimize the chances he gets lost. Sophia used to go to school with Sam, so it'll be good that he has a familiar face with him. In terms of Joanna and I, I think we're spending our hot date night at home, replacing car batteries, getting ready to make peach jam, and unpacking the office. Good times. http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=1&PostingID=7802 We had another great - but busy - weekend!  There was a mycology (mushroom) group here this weekend.  So we watched a bunch of middle-aged nerdy science guys & gals scour our mt, and display 150 different types of mushrooms.  This inspired us to go on our own hunt/picnic on Sat afternoon.  We filled a basket with lots of cool fungi to dissect (at this point we don't know enough to actually eat anything!), and made a lot of spore prints.  Over all it was a lot like Easter egg hunting.On Sun there was the Santa Rosa Festival in Dixon (where Isa goes to school).  So we went over and walked in the parade.  We were all pretty tired, and headed home soon after.  Yesterday Isa woke up with a stuffed up nose and sore throat.  She ended up staying home, while Robbie headed to Velarde to get his new job set up.  He will be a Title 1 tuoter, working with K-3rd graders who are having reading problems.  It starts at 25 hr per week, and could quickly go up to 40 hr.  It will also give him the perfect foot in the door if they open up a second 3rd grade classroom!  http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=7&PostingID=7801 We had a very exciting weekend, all around. Friday night Joanna and I headed down to the Eugene Celebration for music, food, and a horde of people dressed in interesting costumes. Days later, Joanna brought up the ice cream bar, dipped in chocolate and nuts. It was that good. Saturday I collected the kids, fed them crepes and bacon, and headed down to watch the parade. We lasted a reasonable length of time before the kids got restless and we dashed across the parade route to make it to the library. We stocked up on assorted books before making the long walk home. I ended up carrying Emma much of the way, along with the massive bin of books she begged me to take with her. The afternoon was fairly low-key. Joanna stepped out to get the reins of the Fox Hollow web site. I went to TrueValue after that and got the parts for the tire swing. Assembling it went surprisingly well, making our backyard even more of a playground/farm combo. I made dinner for everyone and their bottomless stomachs. I think I eventually got to sit down and have a bite after fetching butter, salt, more drinks, and a half-dozen other things. Sunday was our great expedition to the coast. The drive out went fairly well, with movie players for all. Sam got a little car sick, so we parked by the side of the road briefly to let him eat ginger candy while we picked blackberries. Soon we were on our way to Heceta Head. We got the perfect parking spot and picnic table. Immediately everyone rushed off to jump in the water. It was a perfect beach, with sea caves and a little stream to build forts upon. Sam and Emma got completely soaked and we were constantly getting people to change their clothes. The weather was beautiful and we played until late afternoon, stopping by Florence for dinner before heading home. We're in the final week before school starts. We have another grand school supply shopping trip, and Sam should get a bunch of clothes arriving magically in the mail thanks to Joanna. I'm starting to get excited for the fall to start in earnest. http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=1&PostingID=7800 Look at that last picture and you can understand why Mike broke his rib.  That's a 5 ton boat.  The boat in the foreground is the other boat Mike restored. I'm at a hotel at Heathrow getting ready to fly home.  For my final English meal I had a Big Mack with two all beef patties, special sauce, etc.It was very new and one of the nicest, cleanest McDonalds I've seen.  I'll call in as soon as I get back. http://familyofadam.com/default.aspx?NewsID=11&PostingID=7799