Fishstix

Meet Fishstix, Maddy's pet! Fishstix is a beta fish, suggested to us the best choice for a child's first fish.  He was a Christmas gift to Maddy from me and Steve and we all love our little buddy. 

Maddy had a hard time deciding on a name for her little fish, so she decided to have her schoolmates help her. They picked out names which Maddy wrote on the board, then they voted to choose the top few. Maddy had the final choice and chose Fishstix (we decided on the spelling as a family).

Voting for a name

Martin Luther King Day 2016

Found a Shoe!

January 18 was Martin Luther King Jr Day, a day of service and a day of fun. We started our day with breakfast at a restaurant to gather energy for a service project at Glendoveer Park with Steve and his co-workers from Cogan Owens Green. We spent the morning picking up trash and removing invasive plants from the trail. Maddy found part of a shoe to add to the garbage pile!

That afternoon Maddy and I headed to OMSI - Oregon Museum of Science and Industry - where we met up with Maddy's  school friends Eli, Karina, Henry and Finley and their moms. Maddy was especially excited to see Finley since Finley no longer attends ChildRoots. We all had a great afternoon, moms chatting and kiddos running all around.

The Crew

Henry, Maddy, Finley and Karina

Playing Bingo

Maddy, Rachel (Eli's mom) and Eli

Karina, Finley and Maddy

Sports, Sports, Sports, Sports!

Soccer and swimming are Maddy's current sports loves. Soccer classes are Saturday mornings and swimming Sunday evenings, both at the East Portland Community Center.  

Coach Alex leads Maddy and the other kiddos through warm-up, drills (starting to focus on offense vs. defense), and Maddy's favorite: kick the coach, where the kids try to hit the coaches with the ball. I think Maddy has a little crush on coach Alex, so she's doubly excited to go to class. 

Maddy's swimming teacher this time is André and she's made a lot of progress this session! In order to graduate from pre-penguin level to pre-otter, Maddy needs to be able to back float on her own and front glide for 5 feet. She's got these skills down and will move on to pre-otter! Hooray! We are excited for this summer and more swimming adventures for our family.

Front Glide with Teacher Andre

Back Float

Marnie/Steve's Birthdays

This year I decided a birthday potluck brunch sounded fun so that is what we did! From donuts to corned beef hash, breakfast pizza to fruit, mimosas, greyhounds and Bloody Marys...we had quite a spread. Steve got special mini cupcakes as a special treat, too. We hosted the event and had a great time.

Sadly both Steve and Maddy were not feeling well the weekend of Steve's birthday, but we managed to celebrate nonetheless. We met up with friends at StormBreaker Brewing to celebrate both Steve and Melissa's birthdays.  We had lots of fun with our crew of friends.

Marnie's Birthday Brunch

Mariela, Daynia, Luella and Christy

Jon and Eric

Eric and Andy

Steve's Birthday

Maddy's gift: Daddy, Maddy and Mommy paper dolls!

Quality Time with Althea

Happy Friends!

We've had the privilege of spending some good quality time lately with our little friend Althea.  Between sleepovers and babysitting, it's been a very fun couple of months!  Maddy loves to "teach" new things to Althea and play the big sister role.  Althea is a kind, thoughtful child that loves to laugh and play.  When over for a sleepover last month, her favorite phrase was "Squirmy Wormy" which she said over and over, cracking up every time! We love our little buddy Althea (and her parents Eric and Melissa too of course)!!

Our Portland village - it's a wonderful thing.

Puzzle!

Maddy, Eric and Althea

Art with Melissa

Music Time!

Bedtime book

Sleepover!

Buddies!