This is Halloween, this is Halloween, pumpkins scream in the dead of night!

What a day full of Halloween-ness! It began with the very last costume parade at school (sniff sniff) which my dad kindly filmed for us. Thanks dad!



In the evening, after a pizza dinner with family and friends, we trick-or-treated our picture-perfect neighborhood. The weather was amazing, the leaves were crunchy, big groups of kids and their parents roamed the sidewalks. It felt lke something out of a movie.


Batgirl did an excellent job of keeping up with all of the big kids. And she didn't even flinch when the two teenage boys opened their door in full, scary werewolf costumes. I wanted to run away, our little friend Claire nearly mowed me over in her hasty retreat, but Zöe just stuck out her bag and chimed "Trick-or-treat!"


The Hooded One (the dark and dangerous character from Jack's favorite graphic novel series Bone) had a great time. I made his cloak and he was very happy with it, except we both wished that the hood covered his face more. But that's okay. He played the part well and scored a ton of candy.



Link had the best Halloween ever. After working long hours on Jack's cloak, I thought there was no way I would get to Max's costume. We found Jack's Darth Vader costume from last year and he was pretty satisfied with going as Darth. But at the last minute I felt that my middle child needed to get what he wanted. So after two nights of 3:00 a.m. bedtimes it was done. Max was so excited! He tried it on, looked in the full-length mirror, and burst into tears. He's usually very timid about dressing up, so I sat down and told him that it was okay (and I really meant it), that he didn't have to wear it if he didn't want to. But through his heaving tears he said, "No mommy, I'm just (sob) so (sob) HAPPY!" So I burst into tears right along with him. Those late nights were definitely worth it.


After trick-or-treating, it was over to my brother's new house, then on to my parents for a big fun Halloween gathering. What a perfect evening! As always, more photos can be found over here. I hope everyone had a great time, too. Can you believe it's now November? Sheesh!

Derby Grrrls

After our girl's nite out last weekend to the Roller Derby we were more convinced than ever to be a team of our own for Halloween. Thus, the Reservoir Dolls were born. You can click here to check out the real team.

We had so much fun putting together costumes (I'm in serious love with that swingy black-haired wig...does that even look like me?), coming up with names, making our team shirts. And although this photo (sadly) doesn't show it, we were kickin' it on our skates. Unfortunently, however, our teammate Bubble Viscious was taken down in the second bout by a nasty foul and is now nursing a real-life broken ankle. But it was fun, Bubble V! ...Right?

For an even better account of the evening and way more photos, head this way.

Happy Halloween!

xo
Penny Traitor

Ready. Set. Go!

Well, we did it! On Sunday Sarah, Geri and I successfully completed the 2007 Portland Marathon! This was marathon #7 for me, but it's been seven busy (not-much-time-for-running) years since the last one, so it was most definitely a challenge.



We had such great support from all of our friends and families. From mile 7 to the very end of the race we had a series of "special guests" who ran (or rode their bikes) along with us for several miles, in addition to husbands, partners, kids, parents and friends cheering us along from the sidelines. We all felt very, very loved. Thanks, everybody, for your whoops and hollers! Woo-hoo!

Jazz Hands

Zöe just started taking her very first dance class over at the Laurelhurst Studio, which is where I remember taking dance classes when I was little. Zöe's class is pre-ballet for 3 and 4-year-olds and is taught by my friend Mara, who just so happens to be one of the absolute cutest moms I know. This class is all Zöe has been talking about for the last few days, and she was practically shaking with excitement by the time it started. Needless to say, it did not disappoint. Mara (The Real Ballerina, as she's refered to by my adoring daughter) is her new superhero, and Zöe stops to show her "moves" to pretty much anyone who will take a minute to watch.


But judging by those "moves," along with the snazzy black dance outfit passed down from our dear friend Bryn, my little free spirit is more cut out for the Martha Graham Dance Company than the Joffrey Ballet.


After class was over, we were getting ready to leave as some bigger kids came in for their dance class. Suddenly Zöe was at my elbow, tugging at my sleeve. I bent down to hear what she had to say. "I want some of those! I want some of thoooose!" She whispered excitedly, wide-eyed with the wonder of something new and promising, with oodles of clatter. Can you guess? Tap shoes. I couldn't imagine a more perfect vehicle of expression for my exuberant child.

More dance class photos here.

The girl with three "first days"

Frist Day #1

See photo and description in last post.

First Day #2

























The practice day at preschool, with only half (all six of them) of the class and me as one of the two parent helpers. Zöe loved it but knew it wasn't the "real" thing. She kept asking where all of the kids were and why I didn't leave. I satyed up way too late the night before making her outfit. But it was a happy-kind-of-staying-up-late because I finally got to try out Erin's awesome shirred shirt tutorial as well as the wide-leg pants I meant to make all summer.

First Day #3

























Finally! The real deal. All fifteen three-year-olds present. I think things went well. Zöe was more than happy to see us go, so Eric and I slipped downtown for a really yummy morning-date breakfast. Teacher Amy is the best. Ever. I'm almost as excited as Zöe for all the fun that lies ahead this year!

School Time

You know, summer really is the perfect length of time. Despite all of the fun and frolic we enjoyed while school was out, the kids were ready and excited to head back to school last Wednesday. Zöe trooped right along with the boys (lunch, water bottle and backpack resting squarely on her little shoulders), put her stuff in Max's locker and asked the way to her classroom. I tried to explain that her preschool is in a different place and doesn't actually start until the 18th(!) but she didn't completely get it until we were heading home with her backpack tucked under my arm. Then the tears, they did flow. Remember last year? Some themes remain the same. Look how much they've all grown, though!


Thank goodness for Oaks Park. Some time on the rides with Sarah and Grayson took Zöe's mind of the school blues. With a yummy stop in Sellwood for lunch and a little shopping, we all had a great day. And Sarah and I remembered just how much fun it is to have the little ones all to ourselves.

But boy was I ready to give those boys a big squeeze when three o'clock rolled around.

Many thanks. Now...let's run!

Thanks folks, for your kind words and encouragement. I'm so happy that this blog continues to be a fixture in my life, and that my dear Bloggie and I have worked out a balance that works for us. Sometimes I post, sometimes I don't, it's all okay. Thank you guys for checking in with me from time to time. It's always nice to hear from all of you.

So, about that giveaway. I put all of the names in a hat, and Jack picked...JMac!!! Yippee! I guess the forces have a clever way of working, don't they? Now I can finally pay you back for the awesome shirt that's enjoying it's third go-around on Zöe. I'll email you later, Jen, with details. Congrats! A great excuse for a get-together dontcha think?

Now for something totally different. My brother and Nicole got me a really nifty gadget for my birthday. Have you heard of Nike+? It has completely re-invigorated my running training! You can download stats from each of your runs to keep track of things like distance, pace, calories burned, etc. It works in connection with the iPod Nano, so you get great tunes to boot. And you can specify what song you want for your "Powersong" to kick in a boost when you really need it. I swear, technology rocks so hard.



So I've been having fun gathering running songs for my playlist, preferably ones with a good beat that make me want to move. I've got some pretty eclectic tastes. Here are a few from my list that you might enjoy:

1. I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow
2. Take Your Mama - Scissor Sisters
3. Pump It - Black Eyed Peas
4. I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred
5. Wannabe - Spice Girls
6. Here it Goes Again - Ok Go
7. It's a Beautiful Life - Ace of Base
8. Sexyback - Justin Timberlake
9. Such Great Heights - Postal Service
10. Vacation - Go gos
11. Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne
12. Light and Day - Polyphonic Spree
13. Take on me - Aha
14. Walking on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
15. Move on Up - Curtis Mayfield

Please leave a comment and tell me what song (or songs) really get you in the mood to run, jump, skip, dance, twirl or do some step aerobics. I'm always scouting for new or forgotten tunes. Happy groovin'!

Edited to add: I just ran this morning with some new additions to my playlist (thanks Erica!). When I finished my workout I was surprised to hear Paula Radcliffe pop into my iPod, lovely Brittish accent and all, to congratulate me on a new personal best for the mile! Woohoo! Seriously, how did I ever run without this fun gadget?!?

Playing catch-up...with a prize

Lordy! I haven't posted since when?!? So many things have been going on around here that I've wanted to post about, and the longer I've waited the longer the list has grown. So, sorry people but this is going to be a list-type post: the past seven (!) weeks in abbreviated review. Some of these items really deserve a post entirely of their own, but seeing that life just keeps propelling us forward, um, yeah, it's likely not gonna' happen. So without further ado:


Made five teacher gifts: two Stash and Dash bags (I love that pattern!), one bag of my own creation, as well as a larger and a smaller framed version of this Kindergarten auction project for the teachers to keep.

Hosted a 1950's themed Women's Poker Night as an auction item for the Preschool. Remember the one last year?

















Graduated a Kindergartener!


Ran the Helvetia Half Marathon with Sarah. Sorry, no Chariot's of Fire-type photo for this one.


















Had a super great visit with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Reni from Indiana, as well as Auntie Andrea from Pasadena.



With Sarah, competed in...and WON(!!!) Portland's Rose City Runaround: patterned after The Amazing Race, 25 two-person teams in a five-hour city-wide challenge. I have never, ever done anything harder in my entire life, and that includes running five marathons and birthing three children. A very, very sweet victory! Am I letting you guys in on my competitive side a little bit? Yep, I think so.





Celebrated my birthday...37 years! A morning treasure-hunt with a new Wii as our pot of gold, a delicious pajama brunch (cooked by Eric) with my girlfriends, a lovely new hammock for the side-porch, and a great whole-family celebration in the evening with my very favorite blueberry pie ever.




Enjoyed a rocket-filled Fourth of July with family, friends, lots of kids, great food, legal and illegal (shhhhh...) fireworks, and a funny red, white and blue photo session.



Celebrated our anniversary...10 years! An awesome new handheld GPS (I've finally decided to embrace the fact that, yes, I'm a geeky gadget girl...you wanna make somethin' of it?), some family geocaching (so awesome!), a long lingering dinner with Eric at Jake's, and some photobooth time at the new Ace Hotel.

And I think that covers it. If you've made it this far you deserve a reward, and a reward you may receive. Tomorrow marks my two-years-of-blogging anniversary, and in honor of this I'm going to do my very first-ever giveaway. Leave a comment sometime between now and, say, Tuesday. On Wednesday I'll randomly select a name and the winner will receive a custom-made Stash and Dash bag of their very own. Your chances of winning are pretty darn good, I would imagine. I'm not exactly the most prolific blogger around, and I'm sure most people gave up on me a long time ago. So, give it a whirl.

And in honor of my blogiversary, I need to give all of you out there a big "Thank You" from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting and generally supporting my blogging endeavor. This blog has been the most amazing outlet for me. It's enabled me to stop (albeit infrequently), celebrate and reflect on the moments in life that might otherwise not receive special notice. I was originally inspired by this lovely friend of mine, who is now continually amazing me with her adventures in China. Along the way I've made some fun, lovely, creative, smart, virtual connections, as well as some real- live human connections to boot! I've bugged a few other crazy souls until they joined in the fray. Had some fun with family blogging. And even re-connected with a friend from college. Who knew?

My heartfelt love and thanks to all for a fantastic two years!

Oh la la, c'est Frenchy!

Happy Birthday Sarah! It's Frenchy fun from me to you!

Turkish Delights

Guess what? We actually went somewhere, away from home, outside of Portland, for the weekend! Can you believe it? My folks found this awesome place in Bend, Oregon (about 3 1/2 hours Southeast of here in Central Oregon) and we had a really fun, big, family getaway three-day-weekend with everyone...my parents, brother, and Nicole included. We had our own little four bedroom cottage (the Nunnery) with a lovely patio mere stepping stones from two roaring fire-pits and this cute, cozy pub. And if you haven't clicked on any of these links, please click on this one. I could have spent the entire time in this place, which became even cooler once we realized that the skylight isn't a skylight at all, but really a giganntic open ceiling. When it snows in Bend, it snows inside the Turkish Bath. Dude.

We spent hours scrambling all over this really awesome museum on Saturday. And oh, I am such a sucker for living history, most especially the pioneer Little House on the Prairie variety. It was really pretty quiet, crowd-wise for a Saturday and the museum has a huge outdoor component with a Birds of Prey aviary and an Otter Exhibit. After exploring the different pathways we came out of some trees and stumbled onto this most amazing scene.

They were eating and talking and singing with intermittent bursts of hearty belly laughter. They teased me and called me a "Portland city-slicker" when I asked them what they were having for lunch (chicken stew on tin plates with wooden utensils), as these pioneers eat breakfast, dinner, and supper. They chided Eric for wearing shorts, because without proper leg coverage he could get injured, and then what use would he be? How could he provide for his family? And the boys (of course) were mystified by the guns and the "belt-o-bullets." And I swear that's Nellie Olsen sitting there at the dinner table, hair bow and all. It was awesome. If only Mr. Edwards had come tromping out from the trees with pennies and candy sticks, my Little House fantasty would have been complete!

How Can It Be?

My baby is 8! Happy Birthday, sweet Jack. I love you with all of my heart!

May Day, in a Good Way

May Day
Originally uploaded by Meegan Blue.

I've had this thing about May Day ever since I was little. I love it more than I can say. In Lower School we used to do the May Pole dance, and make paper cones full of flowers to adorn the doors of those we love. So Zöe and I decided to embrace May Day today, sneaking from house to house with our doorknob creations. I don't need to tell you that Zöe is an excellent sneaker, or that I thought of my grandmother (my fellow May Day lover) with each one of Zöe's bouncing, zig-zagging secret steps. And when Max came home from school boasting a paper cone of his own, billowing with pipe cleaner and paper flowers, the tradition was complete.

Happy May Day! Happy Spring!

xoxo
Meegan & Zöe (and Max too!)

Hippity Hoppity

This photo was taken of me and my bestest cousin Jubal around 1977-1978, maybe? I don't remember the event at all (Jubal...do you?), but I do know that we were at the Lloyd Center. Nowadays it's just a regular, encolsed, everyday mall, but back then it looked like this. Oh, if only they had embraced its open-air Mid Century coolness and left it alone, just think of the fun we'd have!

Anyway, Happy Easter and Happy Spring! Here's yet another photo of the mantle, now fancied up with tissue paper finery from this place, the most addictive store in town.



And I'll leave you with this little blast from the past, a commercial my brother and I absolutely loved. Thanks Easter Bunny, Bawk, Bawk!

No blues for this cowgirl

For years, and I really mean years, I have been not-so-secretly coveting the work of Ramonster's Kathie Sever. Her stuff is so distinct, so spectacular, totally rock and roll and radio flyer all rolled into one firecracker package. This year for Zöe's birthday I thought it would be really cool for her to have her own beautifully made bit of reto cowgirl swankwear. But try finding one! After unsuccessfully searching, Kathie kindly answered my pleas and custom-made this beautiful dress for Zöe. Isn't it awesome? Don't you want one for yourself? (She makes a grown-up version!) When Zöe's not wearing it, I hang it prominently, ahem, in my little studio where I find myself contentedly gazing at it all throughout the day...


So, since my dad's birthday and Zöe's are so close together we decided to have a party for the both of them. And since he, too, appreciates that retro cowboy aesthetic (being, after all, a quintessential kid-of-the-fifties...the Lone Ranger, Roy Roger) we decided to make it a theme. How cute are those two? I had a vision in my head of this photo that I wanted to capture, and was so happy that it actually materialized. Yee-haw! Happy Birthday, you two!


And one last note for all of you Portland folk: the incdredible, amazing Kathie Sever has an incredible, amazing husband named Matt. Matt is a super talented musician with a show coming up on April 19th here in Portland at Missippippi Studios. Check out his website: Matt the Electrician, listen to some tunes here, and I'll see you all at the show!

Playing Hooky

Jack had a follow-up dentist appointment today, to get some of that crazy fissure sealant that I remember getting as a kid. It was right at lunchtime, so we had a great excuse to spend a little extra time goofing around before I took him back to school. It is super nice to get some hang out time with just one of my big boys. Zöe was there too, and I could tell see was enjoying her Jack-only time just as much as I was. It's just so different when the boys are together.. Zöe, Eric and I are almost invisible, none of us truly able to crack the wall of boy-conversation and imagination surrounding those two. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that they're close. I just like getting my time too.

Today we feasted on pizza, rode the pony, played a few video games, cracked up over Calvin and Hobbes (Jack's new obsession), and ate some of the yummiest doughnuts in town. Hooky is good, but only when it's with your mom. You got that, cowboys?

bee-utiful!

Oh my sweet, dear sunshine. Today has been a gift from Mother Nature if I've ever seen one. Sunny, warm and fragrant with the promise of Spring. Tomorrow wll be dark and rainy yet again, but today...today is a golden glimpse of the deliciousness just around the corner. And our first flower too! Wonders!

Hearts

A thousand, million, big, snuggly red hearts to all of you. Happy Valentine's Day!

Preparations.

So important. The proper Valentine selection for the intended recipient. Jack wants the very best ones for Tomlin, Jasmyne and Asa. Max insists on two each for Ella and Katie. What can this mean?

Meet Mr. Dash

He's the handsome little wire fox terrier standing there in the corner. And he's feeling more than a little freaked out because he keeps having this dream, see. A dream where he's owned by a smart, sassy, high-steppn', smoking, beret-wearing, French kitty. And he's pretty damn sure he's gonna have to play ball.

Thanks mom and dad! Our walls can be your storage space anytime.

Hey, remember me?

Oh my, what a long and unintended hiatus from blogging! Everything is fine here, I just kind of crashed after Christmas and needed a break from all things handmade. In fact, when I made this little smock for Zöe on Saturday it was the first time I had turned on my sewing machine since Christmas Eve. It was nice to get my machine started up with inspiration, excitement, and desire rather than a sense of work.

So, my mom designed this little pup for me to embroider. Isn't he cute? I made it into a pocket and put it on this little smock for Zöe to wear to the Wurst Gallery's Wurstminster Dog Show on Saturday night. We had another engagement beforehand, so we didn't even get to the show until almost nine. It was packed! Like, you had to wait for someone to leave before you could go in, packed. There was so much fantastic stuff, and lots of it.


My mom did this amazing painting, and the kids really got a kick out of seeing it up on the wall in a crowded happenin' place. Although, I may not have explained the concept of an art show very clearly because this morning Jack asked me, "Who won?" Max fell asleep in the middle of the whole fracas, stretched out on the window seat with his head on my dad's lap. And Zöe was like a clip-on koala bear, clinging to me for dear life. I don't think her feet touched the floor once. So much for the themed outfit. You can check out all of the pieces in the online gallery here.

It's good to be back! I missed you guys!