Seattle vs. Portland

This weekend I took a continuing education class in Portland, Oregon. I was a little surprised in how different it is from the Seattle area-where I grew up. Now, I admit that I have been living in a smaller area of unincorporated pierce county for almost 9 years now. So, my idea of what the "city" should be like could be a little bit dated. While I had a great weekend and loved my class on teaching infant massage to parents I was not too impressed with the area-especially the roads. I couldn't believe how horrible the road signs were. I kept getting lost and having to turn around. There aren't many street lights so, forget driving around when its dark unless you know exactly where you are going. I am extremely lucky that my younger brother, Ben lives in Portland and was able to help talk me towards my destination. We did get Voo Doo Doughnuts thanks to Ben and Pok Pok Thai -thanks to a class mate who looked up on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives before she came to class. The food was definitely amazing! One more complaint...it's nice to know about one-way streets before you turn on to them!!!

Let me know your experiences with driving in Portland : )

Update for my Dad

So, I got an email from my dad complaining that my blog has not been updated in quite a while...so, Dad, this update is for you!

A bunch of Rob's siblings are over visiting right now. It is always fun to see the family. We don't get to hang out much any more. I really miss that.

yahoo.....I got a job! I will be working part time at Hand and Stone Massage Spa in Puyallup. It is a wonderful little spa and I am excited to join them.

I am staying really busy with Matt, PTA, and Church. Rob is busy as always with work and seminary.

Gotta go.....I'll be back on later with more!

Happy Monday! Scentsy Clearance

I had a fun scentsy open house friday night-I missed all of you who couldn't make it! I have a few things that are clearance priced sitting around. Let me know if you are interested-I can make deliveries tomorrow if you need anything.

Here is the list
Scentsy Bars-normally $5 each-these are all $3

Pear Crumble, Peach Cobbler Cinnamon(4), Creamy Nutmeg, Grove and Clove, Sizzlin' Coconut, Bamboo Sugar Cane, Snowberry, Christmas Tree, Bergamot & Tarragon, Maui Mist

I also have a few warmers in stock if you need one to go with your new scents-These retail for $30 each-I'll let you have any of the in-stock warmers for $25 each (this week only!)

Punched Tin, Symphony(2), Lodge(2), Cyprus

I have a basket full of old testers that I am now selling for $2 each. They work just great except that they come in an acrylic container-no, just popping them out into your warmer, you have to either heat it up a little or dig it out. It is a great way to save some money! If you are interested just let me know.

Have a great week!
Colleen

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all! Mom and Dad joined us for dinner after church. We hardly get to see them even though they live just an hour away. I sometimes think that my out-of-state siblings get to spend more time with them! Anyway, it was a great day. Matt made me a wonderful scrambled egg breakfast all by himself and a cool magnet that looks like a butterfly.

Now, I am getting ready to go out tomorrow and look for donations. I am co-chairing Field Day at Matt's elementary school. We had an unfortunate theft from our PTA last year and are short on funds. I am pretty confident that we will make it work. It does get a little spendy when you are trying to feed over 600 kids, though. Anyway, I am sure it will work out.

Have a great week!

April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!

Rob, Matt, Ric and I all went over to my Mom and Dad's for Easter dinner after church today. It was wonderful as always.

I took my massage licensing exam on friday (and passed, of course!) I just have to wait a few more weeks to get my license in hand before I can start practicing (or at least charging for massages!)

Later that night we headed down to Puyallup parks and rec-Matt participated in a great big Easter egg hunt in the dark. All us parents could see from behind the softball fences were flashlights going wild! He had a lot of fun-maybe, next year Rob and I will stay for the adult one!

I hope everyone had a peaceful Easter weekend!

Lots of love,
Colleen

April 6, 2009

Today we took the kids to a climbing wall. Actually, it was a whole room full of different climbing walls. Sam and Natalie got into it right away. Allison wasn't so sure until she saw how much fun they were having. When she got started it was hard to make her stop! Anyway, I am ready to go home and play with my son, Matthew. He would have loved to be along today. I know that Grandma took him to climb the wall at the YMCA last week. He told me on the phone that it was a little scary. This would have been way more overwhelming for him. It wore me out just to watch the kids climb today! I chose not to climb today(I am totally freaked out when it comes to heights!). I know it is fun and have done it before but, just didn't feel like it today!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

April 5, 2009

I am in Killeen, TX, at my sister Becky's house right now. Her hubby Nate, came home on leave today. The kids were so excited to see him. I could hardly keep them under control until Becky and Nathan arrived. The weather is beautiful. I hope I can bring some of home to Washington. Maybe, we will actually have spring when I get back! (I can always hope!)

Family Update

Well, it has been a crazy couple of weeks in the Smith household! We are now back to a family of 3. The adoption of the 2 boys has officially failed. Our caseworker said it is normal to have this happen-sometimes a few times. It is hard to find the "right match". The past six months have been rough on all of us. We are now just working on getting back to our version of normal.

Yaahoo!!! I graduated from massage school on saturday. We had a bunch of friends over to celebrate. It felt like old times. We haven't really been very social lately (due to all the adoption stuff and school etc.). Anyway, I am looking forward to having life settle down a bit. Thanks to all who have let me practice on your muscles.

I am working with my friend Debbie to put together some really fun craft classes. We are setting up shop and should have a schedule out soon. Let me know if you have any requests or ideas for classes, techniques or tools that you would like to learn about.

That's about it for tonight--Thanks for checking in!

A wintery sunday morning!

Good Morning! Well, I guess it is technically afternoon! I am still cozy and warm in my PJ's. The weather is beautiful. It is snowy and cold outside. Church was cancelled today because of the weather. We have a good 8-10 inches of snow piled up in our backyard. The boys are loving all the play time. It has been very relaxing not to have to worry about being anywhere or doing anything. I do have some studying to do for a final on monday--I don't know if I will actually have school tomorrow or not, but, I still need to study. We ventured out last night for pizza with Tim, Michelle and the kids. It was great to hang out with the cousins. We don't get to see them as much when all the kids are in school and have sports and different activities. It has been a nice change of pace this week just to hang out with the family and relax! Stay warm and have a great sunday!

New additions

Well, most of you have heard by now that we have a few more boys in our home! Juan and Enrique moved into our home in september and we are working towards making an adoption finalized. We are quickly adjusting to having 3 energetic boys around! Juan turned 3 in November and is attending preschool while I am at class. Rique turned 5 in August and is going to afternoon kindergarten at the same school that Matt is at. They are both very smart, fun boys. They both have some health issues that we are uncovering and dealing with slowly. For the most part they are just really active boys! I haven't actually sat thru a church meeting since they have moved in-It is a whole different life with a 3 yr old around! Matt is learning to live with other people taking up Mom and Dad's time. He has been pretty lucky to have us all to himself for so long. It is a big change for him to have to share his toys and house and his friends! I need to go put Juan down for his nap. I will try to get back on when he is asleep. I hope you are all staying warm-it has been freezing here all week! (No school today!)

Greetings!

Hello! I know I haven't been great about keeping up to date on our blog-I am sorry! Here is a little update on life over here at the Smith household.

Matt is doing great in first grade. He is reading so well and loves math. Coach-Pitch softball starts soon. This will be his third year on the same team. Matt loves having his daddy as coach. Matt is really into Pokemon-He was so excited to attend his friend's Pokemon birthday party this past weekend.

Rob is busy, busy, as usual. He is teaching Seminary every morning and then commuting to either Bellevue or Seattle for work. His latest project is our master bedroom. He is trimming out the windows and putting in new baseboard. He just got finished painting the walls and I got my new curtains put up (along with a new bed/bedding). I love the spring! Everyone gets so excited to finish projects!

I am attending school to become a Lisenced Massage Practitioner (LMP). I love it. The hours fit perfectly into my schedule. I also run my church's scrapbook group and lead the activity day meetings (8 - 11 year old girls-kinda like girl scouts!). And, I am starting an adoption/infertility support group in our area. We meet once a month for lunch and try to help each other out where possible. I am so excited for spring to finally come!!!!! I have been working in my garden and watching all the bulbs bloom. I love this time of the year.

I am going to try really hard to keep up with my posts here (especially, so my sister Sarah and her friend Jaime will stop bugging me!)

Talk to ya soon!
Colleen

Check out our adoption profile:

http://www.providentliving.org/ses/birthmother/viewsingleprofile/0,12272,2133-1-8229-1-1,00.html

Wow! What a year! Sorry I haven't posted anything lately. I have been pretty consumed with other aspects of my life. School should be starting soon for Matt (except that the teachers are on strike!) And then life will hopefully get back to some sort of normalcy.

Uncle Donn is getting stronger every day (you can check out the blog for him at www.caringbridge.org/visit/donnpotteiger)

My sister Becky had her baby girl yesterday!!! You can check out cute pictures of my niece Adelaide at their blog (http://thecornwallfamily.blogspot.com/). Becky's hubby Nathan just graduated!!! Congrats to him!!!

Rob's birthday is tomorrow. He will be 32 years old! He is trying like crazy to figure out what I got him for a present. Maybe this will be the first year that he doesn't actually figure it out! I'll let you know. He really wants Seahawks tickets but it won't be happening this year. The cheapest cheap seats were a little too pricey for me! Maybe, next year honey!

Matt will be 7 on Sunday. We are having dinner with the family at my place to celebrate all the august/September bdays on my side. We have a lot of them. I ordered a cold stone cake (per Rob's request!) so everyone better show up. Matt is having a Lego party with his friends next week. He is really excited.

No new adoption news yet. We are preparing a postcard with info to send out to everyone we know. This way if you hear of someone who is in need of finding an adoptive family or counseling they can get ahold of our social worker for more information, and not feel pressured by us in any way.

I hope everyone had a great summer! I will start posting here more regularly.

Colleen

04/18/2007

Rob's father, Ray passed away this past saturday, april 14th-at 1:55pm. Six family members were able to be with him on saturday. The funeral will be on friday the 27th at noon. Call us if you would like any details.

April 3 2007

I just got home from the hospital. Dad "Ray" went to the E.R. yesterday at 4pm. He was admitted with pnemonia after ruling out meningitis and lots of other infections. He is doing much better today than last night and hopefully won't be in the hospital very long. Sorry about the short note-I am off to take a quick nap!

My First Blog!

I am so excited to be blogging! This is new for me. I thought It would be a great way to keep the family informed without all the phone calls (not that I don't like all of your phone calls but, I always seem to leave someone out of some important information!). Anyway, it takes quite a while to call the entire family to inform you about anything.

Update on Ray:
Dad moved from the hospital to the rehab center on tuesday of this week. The staff is very attentive and responsive to his needs. He is getting a great deal of therapy and hopefully will rebound quickly. He gave the nurses a hard time at dinner tonight and refused to eat his food. They took him back to his room and gave him a quick once over only to discover that he has thrush in his mouth. Most likely a side effect of all the antibiotics he has been taking. No wonder he did not want to eat! Thrush can be very uncomfortable. They got him some medication right away and if he needs it they can always give him I.V. fluids through his pic line (a kind of semi-permanant I.V. line they installed at the hospital) until he decides to start eating again. They were also going to try some thickened liquid nutrition shakes. Anyway, his roommate is really nice and tries to keep Dad alert and going most of the day. I guess he knows Michelle's family (small world!). I will keep you all posted on Dad's condition as often as possible.

F.Y.I.
I am putting together a Smith Family scrapbook (mostly for myself because I like that sort of stuff!) I thought I would let you know in case anyone had any extra pictures or fun stories they would like to share with me. I have only been a part of the family for ten years and don't know every story, yet! -I would love to be able to include things about Rob growing up and Grandma/Grandpa Smith especially for Matt to see. Anyway, Thanks for the input!