Southsiders: ChildRoots Update

It's hard to believe this is Maddy's last year at ChildRoots and second year of preschool.  She has blossomed in this environment, learning about countless subjects, art, tools, animals, numbers, letters, science, history, games, confidence and a sense of self.  She loves learning already, asks questions about anything she's unfamiliar with, and already is reading on her own. She has made wonderful friends, and I am so happy she has spent her first five (almost) years in such a supportive environment where she has learned to speak and think for herself at such a young age.

Amber (Maddy's primary teacher) and Maddy

ChildRoots Yard

Exploring the World with Jamie

Sophie, Maddy and Karina

Art Studio with Carson

Art Studio with Kai

Tools!

Art Studio with Karina

Joy!

Role Playing ("doggie")

Spring Catch Up

Spring!

Springtime has been busy for us this year!  The yard is blooming with daffodils, tulips and many other flowers.  The weather has been nice, with smatterings of rain here and there.  This spring, I was awarded the "2015 M.S. Self-Help Group Leader Superhero Award" by the National MS Society at a volunteer "League of Awesome" event.  This was such a nice award to receive (had I known in advance I'd have invited Steve and Maddy to join me) considering I am "retiring" from my co-leader position this year.  We went to see some music at Music Millennium, then met up with Eric, Melissa and Althea for a walk to Laurelhurst Park.  Maddy and I made Valentine Swirly Cookies, which were pretty yummy. We went to the World Forestry Center with the Gregoriches and Sweanys to take advantage of monthly complimentary entry to different places (benefit of our Zoo Membership).  We celebrated Christy's 40th birthday and Kieran's 5th birthday.  Both were fun! Maddy graduated from Pre-Penguin level swimming to Pre-Otter. I made chocolate pudding which Maddy gobbled up while wearing her new favorite cozy jammies. And Mom and Dad went on a West Coast tour to visit Mila, Mark, Tim, Aidan and Nolan, Joel, Silver and Anali and Uncle Larry and Aunt Sue.  They didn't come to Portland this time - next time they'll come our way.

Music Millenium

MS Society Award

Valentine Swirl Cookies

World Forestry Center

Christy's Birthday!

Christy's 40th!

Kieran's 5th Birthday!

Swimming - end of Pre-Penguin!

Mmmmm Chocolate Pudding

Silver, Anali and Joel - Yosemite

Mom and Dad - Yosemite

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!