As soon as we returned, we started back up on our house projects. We finally removed our driveway which we replaced with a path, ground cover (which will take a few years to get there), some planter boxes, a few bushes and a bike garage. The whole thing is still a work in progress, but like all gardens it will evolve slowly over some years! We also built a fence to add some structure to our yard and to keep vagrant dogs out. Here are some before and after pictures!
Before the cement came out:
And after :)
The summer went by super fast with lots of visits to the water fountains, parks and a week long trip to the beach with family. This year we stayed in Newport, OR. The weather was amazing and we enjoyed ourselves. We also went to see the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which was so great.
After we came back from the beach, we did something that was much harder for me to do than I ever thought. We enrolled Aria in preschool! She started school on September 3rd and she couldn't love it more. She is going 3 days a week for 4 hours per day. We signed her up to a Waldorf inspired preschool. She has made friends and loves the teachers. She was a little nervous on her first day, but not as nervous as I. She didn't even cry. Here is a picture of her on her first day:
And here is a picture of Aria with her friends from school:
Another thing that also happened in September is that we closed and sold Mira's Ladle. After a year in business, Mira has decided that cooking for a living was not for her. Even though she enjoyed herself and was happy that she did do it for a while, she wanted to move onto something different. We were nervous about weather the cart will sell, but we didn't have to worry. People thought the cart was beautiful and we ended up selling it for more than we originally asked. Every time we drive by it though, Aria says "there is Babcia's cart! Lets go there!" I think she misses hanging out at it.
September was a big month for us! In addition to sending Aria to school and selling Mira's Ladle, we also adopted a dog. Early on, Aria had some unfortunate incidents with dogs and developed a strong fear of them. We decided that the quickest way to get her over this fear would be to get a wonderful dog of our own. And we did! Kimi came to us from the Humane Society already good with kids, good with cats, friendly to other dogs, fully trained and full of love. She is 11 years old and it's like we've had her all those years! Our biggest problem is to keep Aria from over-hugging her. Even Smoke hangs with her in the yard.
Fall came and went and we enjoyed celebrating Halloween American style. Europeans don't really get it. There are no costumes and no candy. No fun :) I was a witch, Joe was a tiger and Aria was a butterfly fairy princess. We ate way too much chocolate that evening and had a hard time relaxing afterwards, but it was worth it! Aria has been talking about this year's Halloween ever since and has been planning what she will dress up as (a pony, a lady bug, a princess called Aria Beer Heart!).
As if to make up for lost time from last year, we not only had two but three Thanksgiving celebrations this year! It was wonderful to eat good food and to be around family and friends!
Oh, this year during the month of November, Joe decided to grow out a mustache in honor of Movember and raise some money to donate to a GLBT youth center here in Portland. Even though he complained about the mustache being itchy, he stuck it out and we raised about $200 for the charity Hopefully we will make more next year!
For Christmas Joe made his annual trip to the National Forest and for $5 cut down a tree and brought it home. It was very pretty and smelled good and Aria truly enjoyed decorating it! My mom was in Poland, and Ben (Eli), Allegra and Zia went to New Mexico, so it was just us and Bubbe and Grandpa. Christmas eve and Christmas morning we celebrated at our house. It was a flurry of delicious food, dessert and present opening. Aria was a wonderful helper getting everyone their presents and everything went as smoothly as possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment