Piano lessons....finally paying off!!

Nick's latest piano challenge--Fur Elise. He's been working on this for a few weeks.

Sara:

This was a selection from one of my old lesson books....she decided she wanted to learn it too:

Emma:

Working on a lullaby....a work in progress.

Grown-up night out

Last night was the Capitol Hill Elementary annual school aution...our biggest school fundraiser for the year. We went with our good friends Tom and Laurie Iverson. After the auction we went over to an after-aution party at another couple's house with another 15 or so couples. It was a fun night. Nice to dress up and go out!!

Only 6 weeks to go!!

And lots of miles to get under my belt!!! Thought maybe my pulic proclamation of running a half marathon would keep the pressure on. I signed up for this back in Dec.... before the artic blast that kept us housebound, before Nick's hospital stints. But....it's not too late!!! Off for a 7 miler this morning.

Happy Valentine's Day

And Happy 150th Birthday to Oregon!! Saturday, Februry 14 was also Oregon's sesquicentennial. And, it was also the annual Military Officer's Association annual state conference Sat morning AND the annual Military Ball Sat night--damn work, they sure now how to screw up a 3-day weekend!!

But, in order to turn lemons into lemonade, we decided that Will and the kids would join me in Salem for a little "staycation", so to speak. We reserved a room at the conference hotel for the night, so he and the kids came down at noon after the conference was over and we cruised over to the capitol where the bday celebration was going on. The "party" was kind of a bust....we got there toward the end, so not a lot going on. But, now the kids (and Will) can say they have been to the capitol building!!!!




The plan for the evening was to go out for a family dinner after I made a cameo appearance downstairs at the mil ball. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of stopping for a bite to eat on the way back from the capitol and kinda ruined our appetites for dinner. So instead, after I did my touch and go at the ball, we ordered room service for the kids, High School Musical 3 on pay per view, and spent a very mellow, relaxing evening in the hotel room.

The Valentine portraits below are compliments of Nick, who was goofing around with my camera while we were eating.

Oh, and the highlight of the entire trip for the kids was the fact that they got to spend a ton of time swimming in at the hotel pool!!!!

One of my old favorites!!

Slow news week. Back to the grind, trying to catch up on both work and fun that were put on the back burner. Just looking through some old photos for something and came across one of my favorites of the kids ( summer 2003).