Happy Naw Ruz 2009 BE 166

Spring Again!

Happy Naw Ruz to our dear friends and family!
Thank you for visiting our blog. (or looking at the email)

Family Portrait by Sequoia

Family pic taken this past summer.

(Trip to Coast in February)

We now get to celebrate 2 years in our new home in Milwaukie as the Springtime refreshes itself into a new Baha’i year. (Baha’i year begins on March 21-Spring/Naw Ruz) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1
The passage of time seems to be accelerating as does the hectic ness of our family life.

We just celebrated Sequoia’s 4th birthday on March 1st ! She is nearly through her first year of preschool at Brooklyn Cooperative Preschool in Portland. http://brooklyncooppreschool.org/
She is enjoying her experience, meeting new children/peers, finding her own place in the world. She has her own school now and her own peers. She is exploring and challenging herself by trying new things like climbing on top of her school play structure! She loves to sing! For a while she was performing somewhere over the Rainbow to anyone who would listen. She also loves to draw and she wants to take a dance class.
At one point this year, she renamed herself Snow White. She has definitely had a princess stage..and still wants to wear a dress everyday.


Tristan is nearly 6 and has been planning his birthday party for a couple of months now. He’s making lists of all the people he wishes to invite and the activity groups. He recently lost his first 2 teeth in February! (see above) He has had a successful year of kindergarten and is basking in his reading and writing skills. He goes to our neighborhood school (Ardenwald Elementary) http://ardenwald.nclack.k12.or.us/
that is just a few blocks away (a very easy walk) He loves to write and practices under his own initiative for hours! He can read beginner books with little effort. I am amazed at how much he enjoys reading and writing now. He is also very interested in his classmates and even after Valentines Day, has been making them cards and putting them in their cubbies.

We have been learning violin-Suzuiki Method. It has had its ups and downs. Practicing every day has not been a favorite activity for the kids, but we are still working at it, and trying to make it a rewarding experience. Tristan and Sequoia are starting to be able to play "Twinkle Little Star". Melinda is absolutely in love with the violin and its music(especially fiddle) and is taking an adult violin class Monday evenings from the Community Music Center.

http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewPark&PropertyID=21

Sustainability is still a goal…or at least trying to reach a higher level of it on its spectrum. We are expanding our veggie beds yet again this season to the sunnier front yard! When this next project is completed, we will have close to 300 sq feet of growing space. The tomato starts are already growing in the windowsill. Melinda is now grinding our own wheat berries and making 100% whole wheat buttermilk/ sourdough bread using a delayed fermentation method. She has also made her first batch of motzerella cheese. Progress has been slower lately, though. We seem to have our hands full juggling 2 schools this year (I already feel like a soccer mom with all the trips to schools and violin classes and back) and figuring out how to make our own French drain. (Our basement leaked again!) Apparently hydrostatic pressure, excessive rain these past 2 years (and a burst sprinkler system pipe didn’t help the problem!) Mike has done quite a bit of digging so far and has quite a trench on the south side of the house.
This winter we had a record snowfall for this area. We had about a foot of snow on the ground, which is a big deal when we are lucky to get an inch. School for Tristan was cancelled for a whole week and Mike had to take the bus to work. Portland does not operate too well when we get snow. Probably not worth buying snow plows when we only get snow occasionally, and salt is not used here either. It was quite an adventure and it happened when my father was visiting. We joked that he had brought the snow from NH.



We continue to teach a neighborhood children’s class for 3+ year olds. This year we have been focusing on positive spiritual qualities/attributes.

Mike has been working at OMIC for 5 years now! He is also a member of the Baha’i Local Spiritual Assembly. The meetings are just a block away at another Baha’i’s home. It is a treat to be able to simply “cross the street” to go to Feast sometimes! We live in a wonderful small community that has been very welcoming to children. (translation: they accept the interruptions and energy that small children have and even keep those long adult consultations to a minimum.)

Fun in the snow!!

Mona and Lily are a great pair!