Happy Holidays!

Life's been crazy as usual, and I'm behind, as usual, on getting cards out this year. Here are a few highlights of our holiday. The rest of the pictures are HERE!

First Tooth GONE!

The grin says it all.

Sam is FIVE

Making his cupcakes...

My baby is five. I can't even believe how time flies. We had a great weekend with family and friends.

Pumpkin Patch Visits

The boys have each had visits to the pumpkin patch with their respective schools, plus a bonus visit with the family. Needless to say all events were fun and fodder for TONS of great pictures! Some of the highlights are HERE.

Aikido with Daddy

Dave had Friday off of work, so he was able to help during Max's Aikido class. Was there ever a prouder 6 year old? Or daddy??? More pics HERE!

I love this boy...

He's such a character... I think this picture says it all!

Sam's school gets a visit from the Fire Department.

Today Sam's school got a visit from the Fire Department. He loved it... as did the rest of the school. Check out pics here.

Forcibly Slowing Down...

Well, at least for the moment. Funny how it takes some event or illness to make us slow down and take it easy. I came down with a really bad UTI this week, and it has made me realize how crazy and hectic our last few months have been. When I say really bad, I mean like middle of the night in the ER bad... at least it was a relatively short visit, but at 2:30 in the morning, any amount of time out of my bed is long. I'm over the really bad part, but am surprised at how wiped out I feel nearly 2 days later. 

We played HARD in August, then ran right into our first few weeks of school, and some really great opportunities for me professionally. I shot my first wedding, senior portraits, and got asked to shoot the cover of a local magazine. I didn't get the cover after all, but was tickled to have been asked. 

Max is doing well in school... or I think he is at least. It has been so hectic that I'm afraid I haven't been in to volunteer yet in his classroom. I feel so out of touch, and I don't like it, but need to wait another couple of weeks for life to mellow out before I can make that commitment.

Sam is liking his preschool well enough. He's only able to go one morning a week for the actual preschool program, but once more spaces open up, he'll be able to attend more often. He goes in the afternoons twice a week at his new school (Creative Kids, Inc). The fire department is visiting tomorrow morning, and I'm excited to go with him to take some pictures.

Dave has started Aikido and is adding the Jujitsu class as well. It's fun watching him get so excited about it, and he and Max both love having it in common.

Blown away BY Chelan!

We had so much fun at Lake Chelan, we're going to do it all over again next year! It was such a beautiful place, and had so much for us all to do,  not to mention we got to play with good friends all week! So, despite the wind, we'll be back!  You can check out all of the pictures here.

Blown away in Chelan!

We are still having tons of fun here in Chelan, but have encountered less than optimal weather. Lots of wind gusts (not great for our awning...), and not quite hot enough to jump in the lake as frequently as we'd like. BUT, we are having a GREAT time with our family, and our old friends as well as some new friends. I guess this is quite unusual, though. 

We definitely see this as an annual vacation spot... and have already scoped out next year's campsites. Can't wait so share pictures...

Cheers!

And we're off... again!

Today marks our next adventure... stay tuned for details!

A visit with Shadow

I had to make a separate post for this goofy dog... He looks pretty good for almost 10, doesn't he? Be sure to read the post below as well...

Too much fun?

Is there such a thing as too much fun? If so, I think we're approaching it. We're neck deep in wringing out the last bits of summer before school starts up in a few weeks.  

After our big Baker City and Joseph excursion... we had a week to breathe, then took off on Saturday for the valley, met up with friends that evening for an impromptu pool party (the boys' first experience with a diving board), and spent the night in Salem. On Sunday we squeezed in a visit with Shadow (and a photo shoot of his new buddy, baby Ryan), then dropped the boys off with their cousins in Silverton for a sleepover, while Dave and I ventured off to Portland for our 4 day date, aka the Assistant Manager's Meeting (Les Schwab sponsored). My dad picked the boys up on Monday and brought them back to the beach for a few days of fun with Grandma Judy and Midge the beach dog... then we all met up again at the Portland Zoo on Thursday.  

Once home, we ran a few errands, did a few loads of laundry, and an aikido session for Max, then we were back at it on Saturday, with a trip to Tumalo State Park with the Silverton Cousins and the Bend Grandparents (and family dinner at Grandma and 'pa Prestidge's house)... and if that weren't fun enough, Sunday (today)  boasted a trip to Prineville reservoir (and all the boating fun you could want with our neighbor, and buddy, Ed) AND a birthday party (Happy 6th, Race!), AND a group dinner (most of the families from the birthday party) at Red Robin. Yes, I'm exhausted. I won't even tell you that we've got an equally busy week coming up, and another FUN vacation starting on Saturday for an entire week at Lake Chelan! Wahoo!!!!

So, I guess it could be true, that you CAN have too much fun. At least we're trying REALLY hard to find out.

Max, the Yellow Belt!

Max promoted to a yellow belt last Tuesday, and is quite proud (as you may imagine). Here are the pictures from the entire class... and some great ones of my newly yellow belted one. Enjoy!

Days 2 through 7 Camping... Unplugged!

I would have diligently kept up with this blog, had it not been for the remoteness of our RV park! It was nice to take a break, and we had lots of fun. LOTS of fun.

I'm exhausted, but did manage to add the first of MANY pictures to our new gallery at my website (in the friends and family section), and you can check them out here!

You'll get to see, among other things... our visit to the Enterprise hospital for Sam's broken wrist! Thankfully a minor break, it serves as an interesting story... that could have been MUCH worse. I'll be sure to give the full story soon. I'm off to bed!

Day One - to Baker City.

It takes a LONG time to mobilize an army. I guess you could say the same about our family! We didn't leave town until well after noon, but made good time getting to Baker City. It was a beautiful drive, marred only by the fact I was paranoid towing our trailer on a few of the more narrow roads. Not, by any means, because of Dave's driving (impeccable by the way). It's just a minor paranoia of mine. I suppose I'll get used to it.

I think I gave Dave a heart attack, though, when we pulled up to our campground in Baker City. Granted, I'm glad that first impressions didn't hold true. We pulled into a 1955-era mobile home (as in there are full time residents here) park, and the pool looked a bit scary through the fence. Thankfully we gritted our teeth and pulled further in to discover a quaint, albeit older, RV park with very friendly staff, a nice playground, and a very nice pool to boot. The playground (probably built in the 50's and before modern safety standards) has one of the old swing sets that is a mile high, and thankfully sturdy. The boys had a blast swinging as far as they could "to the moon" Sam said. 

So, we made it. We had a fabulous dinner (Grilled flatiron steaks), and are settled in for the night. We plan on visiting the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center tomorrow, and have promised the boys a visit to the pool.  

... and we're off!

No promises, but I think we may try to post a couple of times to this blog while we are out on vacation. So, check back next week and see what we're up to!  Oh, don't forget to check out our GREAT new pictures from the last couple of weeks... RIGHT HERE!

Cheers!

11 days later...

This is nuts. I got up last time to put the boys to bed and finish the post... and it's somehow 11 days later. 

We've got a few weeks until our next camping trip, and the are packed. I'm trying to just "go with it." We are also trying to gather up all of the extra "stuff" in the house for a garage sale, which is a challenge when the boys are around. They hate the thought of parting with ANYTHING. For better or worse, Sam, the sweetheart, LOVES his buddies. All 125 (at least it seems so) stuffed animals in the house. What kills me, and is making me hesitate about actually taking some of them without him knowing, is that he is so sweet to them, talks to them, makes up stories about them...  wish me luck!

July, WHAT?

Yes, tomorrow is the first of July... and I've let about 3 weeks pass. This is completely in step with the kind of summer we've been having. Busy. I'm trying to slow down but just can't seem to make it work. Oh well. So, we went to the Sisters Rodeo with our trailer for the whole weekend and it was a blast. Anyone that wants to join us next year... that's where we'll be! The boys had so much fun biking around the campsite (the KOA next to the rodeo grounds), swimming in the pool, sleeping in the trailer, and oh yeah... the rodeo!  I'll keep chatting in a minute, its time for the boys to be in bed.

Max's last few days of Kindergarten

I just got done uploading Max's last few days as a kindergartener... and you can check the rest of them out here!

Enjoy!

This is an effort!

I know I said I wanted to take time out each week, but does it have to start THIS one??? Yes, craziness ensues! Max is finally over his bug, Sam caught one, and is over his as well. We had fun at Aikido, and I got to try out my new lens for the very first time... Check out Max's Aikido class!

We spent a marathon day Saturday at the ballpark, Max had a game, I shot the championship game at Big Sky park between the Marlins and Pirates, then we enjoyed the Bend South Little League end of season BBQ. It simply wore me out (including about 6 trips to the 'loo with Sam, which was a bit of a hike away), and we spend the evening sacked out in front of the TV.

Sunday I had the privilege to shoot the delivery of a beautiful baby girl. Baby "B" was very cooperative, as she entered the world on a Sunday (Dave was home and could be with the boys), and in the middle of the day no less. I cannot even tell you how amazing it was to be able to document such an amazing part of someone's life. I was able to use my new lens for part of the shoot, and I love it. I hope I am lucky enough to be able to do that again. Really, words can't describe how special it was for me... 

What a rush the morning was! By the time I got home and the photos uploaded, it was time for the next thing, a birthday party/bbq at a friends house. The party lasted until 8pm, and let me tell you, we partied! The kids had TONS of fun, as did the adults. It is always nice to be able to visit while the kids are occupied. I only wish we didn't have school to contend with the next day. I don't have any picture of that, however, because I was too exhausted to think about bringing the camera! Ha!

I guess I won't have to worry about that much longer, as school is over in a mere 2 days now. Max's last day of kindergarten is on Wednesday. I just can't believe it. He's looking forward to summer, and I think he's also looking forward to some down time. He's been acting a bit mopey and clingy... a sure indication he needs a nap (or maybe just Mom????).

Well, I'd better crack the whip on my own work day. I've only got one this week, and it is slowly ticking a way. Cheers to all of you!

Catching Up

Last November I got my new computer... LOVE IT, but in the crazy transition (just before the holidays, mind you), I failed to copy over the details of my e-mail group that I used for sending out updates on our family. So, here I am... six months later, and needing to catch a few of you up on what life has been like for the Teichrows. Now this is going to be a long entry... and I promise not to be so verbose in future posts.

This is a pretty tall order, since I can barely remember what I had for lunch, let alone what's been happening in our lives for the last six months or so. In the spirit of "smelling the Juniper" (see previous June 3rd's blog entry), I'll try to recap The Best of the First Half of 2008.

David. He's enjoying working with his team at the store. They've a good crew and manage to work hard, and play harder. He tries to get out and golf as much as the weather allows. He's signed on as one of our homeowner's association board members, which means we get to hear about all of the stuff going on in our neighborhood... good, bad and ugly. I think Max has him talked into starting Aikido... which will be fun for he and Max to have in common.

Max. As I type this I'm sitting on the floor in his room watching him fall asleep (and taking his sweet time at it, mind you). He's spent the last 2 days sick, with fevers spiking up to 105. It's been a while since it's reached that high, and luckily it passed quickly and wasn't much of a bug other than the fever. This bug forced us to stop and slow down for a few days. Kind of nice, really. This school year has flown by. I'm amazed that he'll be finishing kindergarten in a mere week. I'm fairly certain we were school shopping for the first time only last week. Maybe I'm wrong. We've certainly managed to make some really good friends this year. I'm not sure if I'm talking about Max or myself... but I'll say Max. There are a handful of his classmates that have really gelled and lucky for me, the moms have as well. Max is our "what's next?" boy.  Could be the first-born thing... but could just be his personality, but he's constantly looking for something to do. Once he's doing it... you got it! "What's next?!!" It is helpful to my sanity when we stay busy... and threatens our quota of TV watching when we are not busy. He LOVES playing with friends. He LOVES staying active. This is a very good thing, since we just found out he has mild scoliosis. The threshold for scoliosis is an "S" curve in the spine with a 10 degree curve. His is 11 degrees. He's not in any pain, nor does it hold him back physically. We go back for frequent Xrays as he grows, and if it gets worse he'll wear a brace. Same or better, more Xrays to monitor his growth. I'm just thankful we could catch it early. The doctor's prescription for Max? "Be a boy...." Exercise and strengthening the back is beneficial. No sweat, doc!

Sam. Oh, Sammy. My baby is four and a half now, and a bit of a "Baby Huey" at almost 55 pounds. He's just hit a growth spurt and is shooting up even further. I hate seeing what clothes he's grown out of, because it only reminds that he's not my "little" baby any more. He's got a sweet personality, with a touch of cayenne pepper thrown in. One of my favorite attributes of this one is that he's an independent boy, with a wonderful imagination. He's constantly taking some sort of stick or plastic weapon and spends 15 - 20 minutes on his own making up stories, rescuing maidens, slaying dragons or chopping the heads off of some intergalactic intruder. We've a plastic set of num-chucks he was playing with this evening, and I just about lost it. He could have stood in for Bruce Lee any day, with his "Hiya's" and "WaaaaaChow's."  Then again, there is the Sammy that cares for and loves "Honey," his baby doll. When he's 16, he's going to hate the fact that I love this so much about him that I tell the world. He is a very well rounded little man. Our recent challenge with him is we found out that he has allergies to wheat, dairy (even goats milk!), soy and peanuts. Try cutting THOSE out of your diet! Thankfully we're a bit familiar with some of this, as my mom has very similar allergies. We had him tested because he has a constant double-barrell runny snot gun, really dry skin (excema), his cheeks flush inexplicably on occasion, and he tends toward the firm side of life in the potty-arena, if you catch my drift. We're hoping that by eliminating his highly reactive allergens, that we clear up all of those symptoms. Time will tell.

Kimberly. What? Me? I've been spinning too many plates this last six months... okay 6 years, that I barely know where to start. A few of you have asked about my business... I am not currently making cards, but may return to that craft at some point in the future. Dave bought a Nikon D80 for me last November, and I've been taking pictures ever since. I love it, love photography. I'm improving with every shoot, and am having a great time. I've hit a few milestones, as well as achieved a few firsts. Here they are: I've a website! www.kimberlyteichrow.com. The family and friends section will contain most of our recent pictures, if you ever want to check in and see what we've been up to. If a site is protected, just e-mail me for the password. I launched the site to be able to manage my client photos, and have the ordering and fulfillment handled. I am also able to shoot Max's (soon Sam's too) sports games and post the images online for families to purchase. This seems to be working out well, and I really enjoy it. I'm published! There is a new local magazine that has only had 2 editions in print. I was able to get on a list of contributors for the magazine and they gave me an assignment for this recent edition. Two of my images made it, and they'd hoped to have had room for more... they loved the pictures. The magazine is True North Parenting... and you can see my image under the article reviewing children's cookbooks (although there is only 1 pic in the online version). I'm in a public space! I happened to meet the owners of a new restaurant in town (The Phoenix Cafe) at the right time. I've got about 8 or so framed photographs hanging in their restaurant. I've managed to sell a few, so at least I was able to break even on the framing!  I made it to a week long Photoshop conference in Orlando by myself last April. While I missed the family... I had such an amazing and inspiring time, I loved being in the student's seat again. 

The family? We'll we've added a new member... and its yet to be named. After much consideration, we added a 31' Jayco travel trailer to our family. You can check out our first trip (at the beginning of May), on my website... The Maiden Voyage gallery in the Family and Friends section. We're going to have SOOO much fun. Our next "trip" is all the way to Sisters, Oregon (20 minutes away) for the weekend of the Sisters Rodeo. This will be either the first of many years at the rodeo, or the first and only weekend. It's a BUSY weekend in Sisters, and the campground is RIGHT next to the rodeo grounds. The next trip will be to Eastern Oregon in late July (in Joseph, near the Wallowas), and we're off again in August to Lake Chelan with friends. 

I suppose that catches most of you up... I'm going to try to make an effort to keep up the posts, more for my sake than yours (again, check out June 3rd's post).

Stop and smell the juniper

As a mother of 2 young boys, wife of a hard working husband, and artist who values her creative time, it has become apparent to me how simply crazy life is, and easy it is to push through the day, days, weeks. It is also apparent to me that I need to make a few changes in my routine in order help savor these wonderful times. 

It's time to stop and smell the juniper. Okay, that's what you smell in Bend, Oregon! Actually... it is a wonderful smell, and leads me to the perfect anecdote for this entry. We recently returned from our annual trip with the family to Vegas. Upon our return to the Redmond Airport, we disembarked the airplane to a freshly scrubbed Central Oregon, a thunderstorm had swept through earlier in the day. The smell was wonderful. Fresh, clean, and filled with Juniper. It only lasts about 10-15 minutes then you don't smell it anymore, but it is wonderful. It serves as a gentle reminder to pause and appreciate where I live, and with whom I share it. 

So, I've smelled the juniper, and now I'm ready to share my thoughts. 

The craziness of life is a given, and a constant. By stopping for a moment each week to set down some of those crazy thoughts and moments I may be able to appreciate them a bit more thoroughly. Then again, it may just be a good time to stop, enjoy a glass of wine, and vent.