Back to School

It has a whole new meaning when you're a teacher...

I've been an AWEFUL blogger these last few months! Too busy, not enough photos, etc. etc. And I still have nothing in particular to say or show, but I thought I should at least pop in to say "howdy" and offer various excuses. The first of which is - back to school! After a lovely 5 month vacation and stay-at-home mommyhood, it's back to work for me.

This year I have 5 jam-packed geometry classes and instead of having a prep period I'm teaching one section of 10th grade English. This means that not only am I super busy planning a new and totally different class, but I have no built-in time to do it! So it's been challenging but so far I've enjoyed teaching English. We're reading Slaughterhouse-Five. Awesome.

In related news, I got sick the very first day of school. Normally, it takes a week or two of mixing and mingling with the new students to get sick, but this year there was no messing around. Monday afternoon my throat started itching and by Tuesday morning it was full-out hurting. I mean, what the heck. Who gets sick the FIRST DAY?! By Wednesday I could barely talk and I had a fever Wednesday and Thursday. No fun. I felt much better by the weekend but I still (over a week later) haven't fully regained my voice. I sound like I've been smoking for about 30 years. And my name's Rhonda. Bah.

Hmm... what else is new? Today I walked in on a sneak preview of Halen's Halloween costume, and I almost died laughing. David's making it (yes, making) and it's the cutest thing in the history of the universe. That's right, the whole universe. Can't wait to post Halloween pictures! It's the first time I've been excited for Halloween since 7th grade and I (barely) talked my mom into letting me trick or treat one last time. I mean, just because my brother wasn't allowed to trick or treat when he was in 7th grade doesn't mean I shouldn't get to! Come on! He was 13 in 7th grade and I was only 12! Clearly I was entitled to one more year! It's not my fault I was more mature :)

Ooh, I also want to send a shout out to Shanna, my awesome mother-in-law who's walking the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure this weekend! She's walking 60 miles in 3 days. Oof. Break a leg!!! Oh wait...

Okay, enough is enough. I guess I can scrounge up a few recent photos of the cutest baby ever. Let's see here...

Halen's learning to sit up! He still needs something to grab onto, like his feet or a blanket or something. But he's doing great and we're so proud!

Halen met some cousins! Here he is with Saskia and Sienna, my mom's cousin's daughters. Not sure what that makes them to Halen, but we'll just stick with "cousin" and not worry about specifics! Doesn't he look excited? :)

Here's one of Halen looking super cute.

Well, that pretty much sums it up. Tomorrow we're meeting my aunt Sherry, uncle Bob and his wife Tammy for breakfast. Bob and Tammy are on their way to Mexico to celebrate her birthday, so they're stopping over for the weekend. Then we're heading down to San Diego to help my big brother celebrate his 30th birthday! Crazy! We'll definitely have pictures to post soon.

It's On...

Okay, I have less than 4 weeks until my trip to Spokane to visit family and attend my cousin Lindsey's wedding. I'm trying my best to lose those last 10 pounds before then, so if you happen to see me sitting around eating junk, stop me. I've been trying to restart the P90X series, which I did last summer, but it's been really difficult with Halen because he generally doesn't like me to not hold him or play with him for over an hour at a time, and if I try to work out while he's asleep I end up shaking the room and waking him up :)

Anyhow, just being more active should be a big help, and I've also been focusing on portion control. In case you aren't aware, I get great joy from eating large quantities of unhealthy foods, so this is extra challenging.

I know my body will never be exactly what it was before I got pregnant, but I really just want my work clothes to fit by the time I go back in September. Hopefully that's not asking too much!

Portland! (and Vancouver)

Okay, I've been way behind on blogging. But it's totally not my fault! I blame society.

Actually, there just hasn't been a time when I've had free hands and free time simultaneously. That's life with a baby, I suppose. And once again, I have a ton to blog about with very few pictures worth posting, so I'll need to supplement with some "creative illustration" via the worldwide web. Here goes...

Two weeks ago, we took Halen on his first plane ride! We went to Portland to visit David's family and attend my cousin Scott's wedding over the July 4th weekend. The flight up went much more smoothly than I expected. Halen slept the whole time! In case you haven't seen Halen sleeping, here's some stock footage. What a cutie!

Awwww...

While there, we stayed in Vancouver, WA with David's dad, stepmom and their 3 "babies."

Sort of?

Jamie and Rose love their dogs, only 2 of which are actually yorkies. The third is a... toto? (Cairn terrier, according to google.) Unfortunately, the dogs weren't equally as thrilled with us staying there, and yipped shrilly and incessantly anytime we entered the room. Or opened a door. Or crossed our legs. Or flushed a toilet. Fun stuff.

On Friday, we hung out, went to Target, and sat around talking about the dogs. David went to see his brother's band play in St. Helens, and I took Halen to dinner with my parents and David's mom and step dad. We went to Red Robin, which I haven't been to in years! It was really fun to see everyone, and our parents get along fantastically, so it was a good night. Here's a picture of Halen with his two grammas!

Saturday was Scott's wedding! He and Jordan had a short, lovely ceremony at the top of Mount Tabor in Portland, followed by a reception/bbq at the park near the bottom. Halen got to meet all of his relatives on my dad's side, which is not large; he met my grandma, aunt and uncle, great uncle, and my only cousin on that side (Scott). Here are some pictures from the afternoon, in no particular order, which are all copied from facebook because I didn't take any! Bad me!

Scott, Jordan, and my dad's uncle Jack who led the ceremony.

Yummy vegan cupcakes.

Uncle Jack and my Grandma Dottie.

Scott and his mom, my auntie Sheri!

My mom gave a reading, which she executed flawlessly!

All in all, it was a great day. I was proud to be celebrating alongside some truly unique and special people. I really have a terrific family!

The next day was the 4th of July. We met my family for breakfast, and then said goodbye to everyone. We had planned to meet David's mom, stepdad, brother Andrew, sister Katy, and Katy's family at a park for a picnic/bbq, but the weather wasn't cooperating. Instead, we hung out at Andrew's house. We had sandwiches, cupcakes, and a few other picnicish sides, and Halen got to meet his cousins! Katy's kids were excited to meet their new cousin. Here's Halen with (L to R) Justin, Zachary, Jacob, Crystal and Brendan.

It was a really fun and relaxing afternoon. We watched Goonies and Invictus, napped a bit, and ate some ice cream (soy-based for me). Halen and Shanna discovered they have something in common...

I know, right?

As darkness approached, David, Andrew, Andrew's roommate Andrew and I (that's 2 Andrews if you lost count) decided to hit the town to see what we could see. Here're a few samples of people who we "may" have come across...

Who knew Vancouver was so... exciting? We ended up parking downtown and having a few drinks at a quiet little bar. Overall, I'd say it was a great day.

Monday was dedicated to catching up with some old friends. We had a lunchtime bbq with Allison and Todd and their little girl Lucy, and Karl and Katie came down from WA with their boys Escher and Moby. It was really neat to see some of the developmental milestones Halen can look forward to. Allison made these amazing bacon-wrapped salmon kabobs, although I'm told it wasn't bacon, it was some other fancy thin-sliced ham (like prosciutto but not that either). DELICIOUS. We had the first stretch of warm weather while we chatted and ate some great food.

For dinner, we drove to Sheena and Trevor's place in Portland. Sheena was my maid of honor and we went to college with both of them. We got to see their new house, which they're mostly done fixing up. Trevor made chicken dumpling soup with a chicken that, well... used to live in their backyard. Until recently, that is! They have a small coop in their yard for eggs and apparently eating as well? I tried not to ask too many questions. I just know it didn't have a name, and it tasted delicious.

Tuesday I hung out in downtown Portland while David recorded a voice-over reel in the studio that his brother's band uses, and then we flew home! It was fantastic to see everyone, but after a long time away from home, it was great to be back.

Techy Becky

I finally figured out how to upload videos from my camera onto the computer, so over the next few days I'll probably be going a little video crazy. I don't have time right now, but here's my test video.

Nothing really happens for the last 30 seconds or so (I have zero editing skills), but this is a clip of one of Halen's very first times cooing. And by "coo" I mean any noise that isn't crying.

CHEEEEEZ!

Today was Halen's first SMILE!! It was great! We were getting ready to go for a walk* and Halen was propped on my pillow while I got my shoes on. I was wearing big sunglasses, and when I looked at him and took them off he smiled at me! A big wide no-tooth baby smile :) I was so excited, I got all teary and grabbed my phone to take a picture but he wouldn't do it again. I probably stood there for 5 minutes just moving my sunglasses up and down and making funny faces. No luck.

Then, several hours later (now), we're sitting on the couch watching the NBA Finals and David and I got a front row seat to this special feature:

Sorry for the quality; it's a cell phone camera in a poorly-lit room with the sun setting through an open door behind him.

*I decided to take Halen on a walk to the Burbank Public Library. It's down the street a little ways (1.3 miles). I was going to push the stroller, but I keep forgetting to take it out of David's trunk so I carried him in the BabyBjorn instead. I signed up for a library card, browsed the kid books, and then we walked (trudged) home. By the time we got home I was totally sweaty and my side was aching. Perhaps I'm not quite back to my old stamina?

Also, if you live in Kitsap County I hope you appreciate your public library. They're so much nicer than they are here! The Burbank library was gorgeous from the outside, but inside it's small and grubby. Bleh. Not impressed.

Girls' Night!

Tonight I went to a friend's house for a MUCH needed girls' night. It was three ladies with way too much delicious food. I didn't take my camera, so I'll supplement with images found on the worldwide web. Here's us:

That's me on the left.

We decided to each bring a dessert/snack to share, but I'm not a great cook, nor am I creative with snacks in any way, nor do I have the time or energy to think about preparing anything. So I decided to go to Porto's! Yum! For those of you not familiar, imagine the world's most incredible bakery combined with a humongous deli, where everything tastes magical and nothing is wrong with the world. Here's a tiny section of their counter. The lines are always super duper long, but they move really quickly. They have these potato balls, which are hard to describe, but I'll do my best: it's seasoned ground beef inside a ball of mashed potatoes which is then deep fried. Here's a picture that does NO justice. In fact, it looks disgusting.

Just trust me.

Lindsay's a vegetarian, so the potato balls had to be my special treat. For girls' night, I took a few different danish/strudel/pastry thingies. Also two giant cinnamon rolls. Yup. The other ladies had an assortment of cheesecakes, awesome hummus with pita chips, carrots and pretzels, and rosemary lemondrops to top it all off.

While the girls were at Erika's house, the boys were at my house doing manly things. Things like:

throwing sharp pointy things at other things.

burning and eating beer-soaked meat.

babysitting?

All in all, it was a great night. It's 1:45 now, and definitely time for bed. David and Halen are asleep on the couch, so hopefully we can make a swift crib transfer without waking the little guy up. Wish me luck!

*Editor's Note: swift crib transfer unsuccessful.

Secret Hidden Post

I finally finished the post I've been going on and on about... and it posted to the date I started writing it, not the date I finished it! So you can find it just before the George Costanza post. Or here. (Thanks for the heads up Shawna!) :)