Connor gets a Trampoline for Christmas!

Thanks to Steve & AnnaMarie, Robert & Celeste, Shoo & Pam, Carolyn & Carl, Scatman & Paula, Mike F. I promise, Connor will most definitely get the most use out of this trampoline as humanly possible! Thank you SO much!

Whoo Hooo! Trampoline!!!

This is a BIG trampoline!

Trevor had to trim away some branches from the apple tree :)



You have to attach the springs in the right order.

Connor absolutely LOVES it! He is wearing wool socks with fleece socks that have grippy spots on the bottom so he won't slip as much. I think it was 40 degrees at the most.

Our feet all got a little muddy. It's been raining pretty much non-stop since Christmas until today - our first day dry enough to put up the trampoline.

Video clip to come...

Kiester Family Christmas & Bunco!

Totems! A new family tradition!

Those handsome Wulff boys.

Thanks for hosting everyone Myrna & Doug - you have a great place to have us all at once :)

With Lee's folks, Rita & Bill.
The Kiesters. (Kraig, Donna, Rita, Bill, Karen, Myrna, Lee).

Diana & Trevor were the 'two turtle doves' among other parts to the 12 Days of Christmas carol.

Connor & Grandma.

The cousins, ages 17, 18, 19.

Merry Christmas!

OhBoyNewCamera!!!

I am liking this pretty well. Lee got it for me for Christmas, and it's a sweet little camera. He got a 4 gig memory card for it as well, so it has plenty of room for video besides just the photos :) Sweet!

I still need to read thru the booklet, but I have the basics down so far. Connor really likes the to watch himself on the videos.

I still need to download the software & set up my new pictures on my system, and then I should be able to add more photos on my blog again.

And just for those camera fans - a big feature for me was the viewfinder option, so I don't have to use the screen to take the photos if I want to save batteries. Those screens suck up juice pretty quick, and batteries just last a lot longer if you're not using the screen :) I do plan on getting a charger down the road, but the AA batteries work fine in the meantime. And I really don't even need the 8.0 megapixels - my old one took most shots at 3.5 and I thought they were sharper than my old 35mm anyway, even zoomed in close.

Whew! I'm so relieved to have a camera again! Thanks sweetie :)

An Meine Freunde & Verwandschaft!

This is for my friends & relatives in Germany who got a Christmas card telling them to check out my blog...



Viele Liebe Gruesse aus Oregon! Wir haben schon in letzter Zeit Schnee, und es soll vielleicht einen "White Christmas" bei uns geben!



Ich muss mich entschuldigen, dass ich nicht einen Brief mit meiner Karte geschickt habe, aber wenn ich zu lange gewartet habe, wuerde die Karten nicht mit Weihnachten angekommen.



Und ich muss mich auch fuer meinen Deutsch entschuldigen - Leider ist es nur wenig dass ich eigentlich Deutsch spreche, deshalb wir kommt es nicht so einfach.



Ich wollte nur sagen, es gibt viele Fotos von meiner Familie auf diesen Blog, aber mann muss durch die "archives" schauen. Ein Link am rechte Seite zeigen auch einen Slideshow von mein Vater's Memorial. Carolyn hat auch einen Blog mit ihre Familie Fotos, es heisst "Keeka."



Fuer uns war das Jahr sehr kommisch. Es war Diana's letztes Jahr bei Oberschule, und sie war auch irgendwie gewahlt fuer einen Show auf MTV. Es zeigt noch nicht in Kanada oder Europa, aber wenn ich hoere dass es geht, werde ich wenigstens einen email senden. Meine Mutter & Connie mussten es auf DVD sehen, die wir selbst gemacht und geschickt haben. Es war ein sehr schoenes Show, und ich hoffe ihr habt die Chance es anzuschauen.



Zur gleicher Zeit wurde mein Vater viel schlimmer mit seinen Krebs, und er ist im Mai gestorben. Die naechste Woche sind wir alle nach Kelowna gegangen fuer die Memorial. Die Foto auf unsere Weihnachtskarte ist von dieser Zeit. Meine Mutter geht es so gut wie moeglich. Ich bin sehr froh dass Connie und ihre Kinder wohnen so nahr, und dass Mami besonders mit der kleine Aaron ganz beschaeftigt ist.



Ich bin auch sehr froh dass Carolyn & ich konnte zusammen an Papi's 80 Geburtstagsfeier in Oktober, und Trevor und ich waren wieder zum Besuch waehrend Fruehlingsferien in Maerz.



In August hatten wir unsere Austauchstudentin, Leonie, wieder zum Besuch, diesmal mit ihre Eltern. Juergen & Martina haben einen Reisefahrt durch Oregon gemacht, und Leonie ist mit uns wahrend der Zeit geblieben. Die Maedchen hatten so viel Spass zusammen. Am Ende von Leonie's Zeit bei uns sind wir alle nach Kalifornien gefahren, eine 20-Jahrige Treffen zu machen bei unsere Freunde von unseren Gang. Wenn ihr uns von '83-88 besucht haben, dann kennt ihr diesen Gang. Ich glaube es gibt einen Slideshow davon auf "Lee's Tidbits." Wir hatten alle ganz viel Spass.



Diana ist jetzt an der Uni von Oregon, und studiert Gesellschaft und Japanisch. Sie konnte auch Deutsch studieren, und ich hoffe sie nimmt die Chance in Deutschland ein Semester zu verbringen - es ist nicht schwierig sowas zu machen. Trevor ist dieses Jahr wieder zu Hause, und studiert bei unsere College. Connor ist jetzt in der 5. Schuljahr, und geht an Junior High School naechtes Jahr.



Lee war ohne Arbeit von ende Januar bis November. Es ist wirklich furchbar hier mit 11.7% ohne Arbeit in unsere Gegend. Lee is gluecklich dass er wieder etwas gefunden hat - er arbeitet bei unsere Bibliotek, und es ist nahr genug dass er laufen oder Fahrrad fahren kann.



Ich arbeite immernoch mit die sehr behinderten Kinder, wir haben drei neue Kindergartner dieses Jahr. Es soll noch mehr naechtes Jahr geben, und wir werden sehen wie das geht!



Also, alles Liebe, und wenn ihr einen "comment" lassen moechten, bitte sehr! Es freut mich wenn ich weiss Jemand meinen Blog liesst!

:) Tina

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We had a very nice Open House on Sunday. The weather mostly cooperated, and it was only rainy - the mountain passes were all clear & safe, so we were able to have family from Grants Pass & Central Point make it as well.

I don't have any photos, but the snack table held:

Trevor's sourdough bread & spinach dip
Cranberry salsa & pita chips
Queso & tortilla chips
Veggie tray & onion dip
Lay's "Get your smile on" (Connor's wish)
Nacho Cheese Doritos
Trevor's fudge
Diana's spritz cookies
my stollen (german almond Christmas bread)
Rice Krispie treats (also Connor's wish)
Hershey kisses
Peanut M&M's

Lee made most of the dips.

We had family as I mentioned, friends from TOPS, neighbors, and friends from church. The kids had some friends over as well. This time around it went in some short spurts of about 6-8 people at a time, and we got the chance to just sit and talk a little more this year. We never know who will show, but pretty much anyone we know is invited :)

I think everyone had a good time, and we're still nibbling on the leftovers :) My favorite is the cranberry salsa. I should have made copies of the recipe. It's really pretty and tasty, and I will probably post that later...

Then on Monday I stayed in bed most of the day & read "Twilight." I'm hoping Diana & I can catch a matinee of the movie before the vacation time is over :)

Getting ready for Open House

On Sunday, we're doing our annual Open House to visit with family, friends & neighbors. We never know who will show up. We have done this every year since we lived in a rental on Ridge Street back when...

Since both Trevor & Diana are home from college, I gave them each a list of things to do around the house to help out. I still need to go and check how well they did - my level of 'clean' and their's can be very different - heh. I got all the curtains washed while Trevor was cleaning windows for me.

Today I'll try to get the last of my cards out, and tidy up around the house again. Tonight we'll do the final shopping. Tomorrow is the final cleaning day plus any final baking, dip-making, fudge making, etc. It's also the final decorating of the living room & tree. Busy! At the end of the day, I'll wash the floors. It's kind of my last thing before I fall into bed.

Sunday after church we'll set things out and see what the weather does & who can make it!

My favorite thing about Open House is that it makes me DONE a few days before Christmas. I can just focus on my family and enjoy the season once the Open House snacks are set out :)

Snowing

Last night, around 11:30pm, it started to snow. Connor woke me up this morning, saying, "It's snow!" and I half-expected to see a few inches covering everything, but it was only just enough to make a crust of snow on the lawn & cars - the road was just wet.

Well NOW it's really coming down in big, fluffy, flakes - these are the size of a silver dollar or bigger. I'm thinking it's not just gonna be a crust of snow in about 20 minutes...

Lee walked to work this morning - maybe he should have brought his Canadian Kamik boots?

I'll have to borrow a kid's camera & take some pix once Connor gets out there :)

A whole family again (for a few weeks anyway...)

This is the photo I would have used on my Christmas card, if it wouldn't have been quite so dark. The flash wasn't bright enough, and although Diana tried to photoshop it brighter, we wound up a little too blotchy-faced to put on our card. Oh well. It was a good try. I used a different photo for the Christmas card instead (which should be underway pretty soon depending on Walmart...).

In any case, I drove up and got Diana today from her place. I had her park her bike in her room and we got some Taco Bell after stopping at Trader Joe's for a couple of things. The drive was just rainy - we beat the big storm that's supposed to hit either later tonight or tomorrow. And then more storm comes in on Sunday. There's a good chance for delayed start to school or complete snow days next week. One day showed the low being 25 degrees, and the high being 26. Hee. Yep - that's cold.

I'm glad to have my girl back home with us again for the break. She has a few things planned - she'll check in on the High School this week - hang out in German class with her favorite teacher and then go the Japanese Club meeting in the afternoon. She might go camping on the coast with a friend if we can work it in. Then we also need to get cousin Daniel over for a visit as well.

I weighed in at TOPS almost 4 pounds under my goal, so I am good to enjoy myself here & there. I have a recipe for cranberry salsa I'm looking forward to trying. w00t!

Connor & the Bible

Connor really loves reading through Trevor's old copy of the New Catholic Picture Bible. It was given to Trevor when we lived in Garden Grove by his preschool teacher as a birthday gift. I think Trevor was five when he got it.

I like this particular picture Bible because it uses the old-style illustrations. They don't hold anything back - When Christ wears the crown of thorns, there's blood dripping down his face, etc.

This type of illustration is much better for Connor, vs. the cutesy-cartoony style illustrations that are more prevalent today. I'd have a tough time finding a cartoony bug-eyed illustration of Christ depicting His trials, like the scourging at the pillar. For Connor to understand things like "suffering" - the illustrations really do need to be accurately visual.

So the illustrations of Christ on the cross are rather vivid, but that's how Connor will learn about His suffering and sacrifice best.

However, last Sunday at Sacramental Prep class, they were working on the Annunciation (When the angel Gabriel tells Mary she's going to bear the son of God), the Visitation (When Mary goes to visit her much older, pregnant cousin Elizabeth), and the Nativity (which hopefully anyone reading this blog already knows even if they are not catholic).

The stories were read to the kids, and then the teachers brought out some dioramas with figures of the main characters in the stories. After the story was done, I took Connor over to the teacher to have him get a closer look at the Visitation. I pointed to the figure of Elizabeth, and showed Connor her big tummy. I didn't know if he'd gotten the fact that she was pregnant from it being read to him.

I said, (pointing to Elizabeth's tummy) "Connor, what is that?" I figured his response could be anything from "she's fat" to "Push the baby out!" But I was surprised.

He said, "That's the baby John the Baptist."

The teacher raised her eyebrows and said, "Boy, he really knows his Bible stories!" Hopefully it helped her see that Connor might not seem like he's getting stuff - but he is exposed to everything we can get for him, and he *is* getting it.

Odd

I thought someone would have mentioned the fact that there were two laptops on the table while I was making the stollen.

Both Trevor & Diana had homework to do, so I just had them move down to the end of the table & I tried to keep the flour from flyng their direction.

:)

Making Stollen

I baked stollen yesterday. I love a nice stollen. Diana will take one to college with her, and another is going to Carolyn because she apparently can't bake her own (?). Well, I do doctor mine up a bit, and she likes the way I do it. I'll make more later, maybe even today...

My mom's recipe is made in the mostly traditional way - we don't get 'quark' here, so you wind up mashing cottage cheese through a sieve. This recipe is already converted to US measurements, vs. the European weighing everything by grams (which is actually more consistent, especially with dry ingredients).

Start off by sifting 3 cups flour with a tablespoon of baking powder onto a large cutting board. Build up into a mound and create a depression in the middle.

Crack 2 eggs into the middle, and cut a stick of softened butter around the rim of the depression.

Add a cup of sugar around the top, and then use the sieve again to mash 1 cup cottage cheese over the top.

The recipe calls for a Tbsp of rum, and a tsp. of vanilla. I overdo both of those a bit, because I like them. I also add another tsp. or so of Almond extract.

Next you use a pastry cutter or even a knife to blend the dough together.

Once its coarsely blended, work it with your hands into a ball.

The last bit is the zest from a lemon and the almonds. The original recipe is for 4 oz. blanched ground almonds. I grind up about 2 cups of regular raw almonds. I like the color and coarseness of the almonds that way better - plus a lot more almond!

If I wanted to get really fancy, I could wrap the dough around a tube of marzipan here, but I haven't tried that yet. Maybe some day.



Once the lemon and almonds have been kneaded in, I split the dough in half. The original recipe calls for making one big loaf, but it will sometimes spread out a bit far, and I don't want a biscotti. So I flatten the dough to about 1/2 inch thick, and fold in half.



These bake at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes. Immediately after taking out of the oven, rub about 1/4 stick of butter on the hot stollen, and then sift powdered sugar on top of that - thick as possible.

Stollen will keep for a long time, wrapped in plastic wrap and foil. It's great with just butter, or plain. Whatever you like.

This is not actually for Christmas alone. It's also for Advent, which begins tonight :)

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm thankful my family is safe & together.

I'm thankful Lee & I are both working.

I'm thankful Trevor & Diana have their college funding covered this year.

I'm thankful Connor brings us so much joy. I'm thankful we have family to gather & celebrate with over the next few days. I'm thankful for all our friends & loved ones.

But I won't be eating turkey. In Connor's words, "Not eat it. Just pet the turkey. It's soft."

Macy's fun

This isn't a photo from last night, but I did actually wear that jacket (with the suit dress it goes to).

This is my friend, Kathe, who got the tickets to do the Macy's Day of Caring yesterday with me. This is an event that benefits United Way and the agencies they support (for our tickets, the total goes to Girl Scouts).

We sampled wines & foods from local wineries & restaurants, had our little chair massages, and crossed our fingers for the door prizes. We're pretty sure that we are jinxing each other, because we never get called on any prizes - but we always stick it out to the end -just in case! Well, there are the $250 and $500 shopping sprees they give away, which would be worth it to know...

The attendence looked like it was down this year. Not as many vendors either, really. The prices are sale-on-sale, but I was good & didn't charge anything this time around. I only saw stuff for me anyway, and last year I saw more for Diana. It's still fun to look, and Kathe got herself a cute jacket & top.

Thanks Kathe for letting me join you again - maybe next year we'll be lucky with the door prizes!

New Scale

As most regular readers of this blog know, I am a member of a TOPS club (Take Off Pounds Sensibly). By regularly attending meetings on Thursday evenings, I managed to get my weight down to goal, and I have passed the 5-year mark now on maintaining my goal weight (they even listed my name in the TOPS Club magazine!).



Besides the weekly weigh-ins & meetings, I weigh myself at home every day. I try to get my biking workout in at least 5 days a week, and I have a pretty consistent menu to keep myself where I want to be. Since I have a 10-lb leeway I'm supposed to stay in, I kind of gauge my food choices based on where I land on the scale in the morning. For instance, if I'm higher than I want, I'll add more time to the bike workout, and make sure I opt for no-fat snacks if I get hungry between meals.



Since the holidays are coming, I've actually trimmed down a bit so I can sample a little more than normal. I intend to have some pumpkin pie & drink a little 'cheer' here & there.



So on Friday, I stepped on the scale and it didn't work. It was a digital with a lithium battery, and I guess it died. This morning I called the number on the bottom, and they are saying it should be under warranty, and they'll replace the battery for free. However, I don't know that it actually IS under warranty. I think I've had it longer than five years, and its quite possible that once I ship it to Missouri, I'll get a call saying it will cost 'X' to replace the battery after all (plus the cost of sending it there, and then if they charge me to return it). So I have a few variables here and I don't know what the actual cost would be.



Or I can go to Wal-Mart and get this one for under $20. And it comes with a replaceable lithium battery, so when this one dies, I wouldn't have to ship it somewhere...

Plus I can get this TODAY and be aware of where I am weight-wise during the holidays, vs. wait 3 weeks for my other scale to come home.


I think I'm going to Wal-Mart.

Missing a camera

Heh. It really affects my blog posting, doesn't it? I don't like grabbing pictures off the web just to spice up my blog - I like photos that I took!

So, stuff that's been going on here:

Trevor did his ice cream chemistry project and it turned out great. There were a few students who didn't want to try the ice cream, but the teacher did, and most of the students liked it. Trevor said it was definitely the most impressive project compared to the other students who just had a powerpoint or they ran out of time or offered chunks of cheese (because their project was making cheese but it didn't turn out -lol). So, hopefully he got an A on that...

Both Trevor & Diana are working out their next term classes. Diana did a 2-year plan and it looks like she's going forward with the Japanese but will not be doing any German classes. Of course, that all may change, but she really has a nice, solid foundation with the german, and I think if she even joins the German Club and speaks it here & there, it will come back. She got past the point of having to translate from English to German in her head, and was able to THINK in German. With me, I just need to be exposed to it again for a bit, and it all comes back. I would still like her to do the overseas study in Germany, and then she'd really be solid with it. Maybe a summer session? We'll talk about it...

Lee also got funding from the local community college. He was hoping to take classes if he couldn't land something. Now that he has, he will look at evening and/or online classes. Anything that makes him a better candidate for more jobs.

He likes the job he got pretty well so far. I love that he's able to walk to & from home and can come home for lunch. Our budget is just extremely tight right now. On the plus side, we're using up stuff in the cupboard that we forgot was there... lol. We should be okay as long as we're careful. I will probably have to go to virtual Christmas Cards this year for a lot of our friends vs. the card in the mail - and just send cards to people I can't reach online.

Then again, I have found Facebook works pretty well for something like that. I can post a nice family picture & people can just print that off themselves... I am enjoying the connections on Facebook too. This week I reconnected with a very good friend from my old neighborhood, who I lost touch with years ago. She just got to watch the MADE episode & saw a lot of Carolyn & me in Diana. Way cool. And I love that she thought I hadn't aged at all - hee. She looks like a model, herself :)

I did have a little hiccup with Connor this week. It rained a lot, and he typically plays on the swing at recess. I guess that was not an option, so he was told he couldn't swing (weather doesn't matter to him) and he wound up with a meltdown & I was called at my job. *sigh*
I talked to him on the phone while I'm in a classroom with one of my students, disrupting THAT classroom, and that doesn't work well. Next week we have conferences, and I'll have to see if we can figure out something better.

I'm glad I have the week off from school & can get some stuff done around the house. I have some sewing to do, and lots of cleaning. On Wednesday I can go and pick up Diana for the 4-day holiday & I'm really looking forward to being with family for Thanksgiving. We will have to miss the Tree Hunt this year since Lee is working on Saturday, but I'm hoping if we give our tag to someone, they can cut us one down too.

The boys & I are probably going to an Advent potluck this afternoon too...

Diana's doing fine

Seriously, I am so lucky that Diana is the opposite of Trevor when it comes to communication. I get information closer to a 'best friend' level than a 'mom' level. Which can be pretty funny sometimes.

She is doing well so far being on her own in college. Her grades are good, and she was very excited when she scored a 9.5/10 on an essay she was very worried about while writing. She saw the grad student assistant twice on it before she submitted it!

The work study job is going well and she's very happy to have a little extra money for the things she likes.

We chat on messenger pretty much daily - I love technology!! We also both have Facebook accounts now, and I'm able to keep up not only with Diana, the other girl scouts (except Renee - but she's blogging so we're good), and other people I know - but I have also reconnected with different people from High School. There are a couple of very good friends from Choir days, various other people I recall their names, all the way down to a guy I knew in 2nd grade. Ha. It's funny. Oh - and the MADE camera people are also on there :P Oh - and some old friends from Asheron's Call, as well.

This week, Diana was thinking about classes for next term. Her Intro to Business class has been kind of confusing to her - mostly because it's all new stuff. I explained that Intro classes are typically a broad overview of a subject, and as you take more classes, things will be repeated and discussed in more depth, so just go with the flow for now. Her passion remains Anime/Manga, but a business background gets you pretty much anywhere you want to go if you're aiming for some kind of work with people.

Her current classes amount to 18 units - plus 9 hours work-study per week. That's a heavy load. She wants to try for 16 units this next term, and ease up a little. This time around it was so high because she was part of a freshman interest group (FIG), and there were two general-ed courses plus a study group, which combined for 9 units. Plus Japanese (5) and Business 101 (4).

She wants to continue with Japanese (5), and I think I convinced her to stick with Business (4), plus a Writing class (3?)this term, and then she interviewed and was accepted to do some kind of a sewing class (3-4?). She brought in the cat hat she'd created, and I guess knew her way around a sewing machine enough to qualify. I think they make costumes? I'm not sure, but she was very excited about that one.

I expect the Japanese to become more tough as she goes - it's already pretty intense, but she has been trying to teach herself since Jr. High, so she has a lot of fundamental stuff already in place. Her business class this next time will be Economics, which she thinks she'll 'get' more. :) I told her if she needs help, Uncle Robert is just an email away (hope you don't mind, Robert).

I haven't SEEN her for a month now. I would have gone up to visit & go shopping with her last weekend, but the van thing happened. I couldn't find anyone already heading up to Eugene to bum a ride from, so we'll have to wait until the van is done next week, I guess.

She has class through the afternoon on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so I'll go and pick her up at that time anyway. Then I can check out Cost Plus and see if they have any Contessas left. Those are my very favorite german-imported Lebkuchen cookies.

Diana has a ride for the trip back to Eugene with a friend from Girl Scouts.

Oh - on the social end, she has a guy friend... She's still in front of her computer doing homework or drawing a lot of the time. She's also planning a Spring Break trip to visit a friend in Washington.

And her MADE episode aired again and she had to answer fanmail. And I guess the episode is being viewed by people in her FIG which is fine, but also a little awkward. Oh well. heh.

Another Connor Story

Today one of the gals that substitutes for us dropped by to visit. She's an older lady, and she has also worked as a sub at Connor's school. A few years ago while she worked with Connor, he decided her name was "White" - her hair is all white.

She's a very nice, mostly retired lady who has been around our school system with special needs kids for a very long time.

The last time she worked at Connor's school, she saw him and got his attention.

She asked, "Connor, do you remember me?"

He said, "Yeah."

She asked, "What's my name?"

He looked at her intently, and then said, "Old lady."

Don't worry - she laughed pretty good about that one.