Sunday Brunch

Last Sunday we had our friends, the Youngbloods and the Moersfelders, over for brunch and a walk to Kelly Point Park. A couple of years ago the tradition of a supper club started and we try to get together every month for a meal. Life doesn't always cooperate and it had been too long since we were all together. Greg made a strata and roasted asparagus. My contribution was pan dulce from the Mexican panaderia in St. Johns. We had a fantastic time and lots of laughs. Taylor, Mark and Kendall's daughter, had fun petting the kitty and jumping into Pema's bed. She is so fun to be around! Unfortunately, there are no photos of her to post because she slept for the entire walk at Kelly Point Park.

After breakfast the walk was perfect; the sun was shining and we took the dogs with us. The Youngblood's dog, Kihei, had a blast racing around after her rubber chicken and swimming in the river. Poor Pema had to stay on her leash because she is not good at staying with us. Mark, Greg, Stephanie and Spencer found a board and a log to make a teeter-totter with and that provided at least 30 minutes of entertainment.

We had such a nice time and look forward to getting together again with everyone soon!

Dirty 30 and FakesGiving

This last weekend was awesome for us. We went to Seaside to celebrate Darcy's 30th birthday and then came back to enjoy "FakesGiving" with our friends Rob and Jess.

Grant, Darcy's husband, set up a fantastic weekend in a giant cabin close to the beach in Seaside. It was super fun. The ladies took a great walk, Greg broke a kite on the beach, we had delicious fish-n-chips, watched way too much football, played games, laughed, relaxed, and made eggs benedict. yum-e. What a perfect way to celebrate Darcy's "dirty 30". I will add a few more photos of the weekend later...I don't have too many on our camera.

Fakesgiving has become an annual tradition for Rob and Jess. They invite a pile of people to come over for an early Thanksgiving feast. Everyone brings a dish and they provide the turkey. I made garlic mashed potatoes and we enjoyed tons of other tasty food. It was a super fun way to round out a fantastic weekend.

Sí se puede...yes we can

I must admit that we shed tears of happiness last night. For the first time in a long time I feel positive about our country. What an honor to witness and contribute to the election of the first black president in our nation's history. Now it's time to get to work renewing this country and its image on the international front.

In Oregon news, voters smashed down two measures that were of great significance to me: 58 and 60. 58 would have made it illegal for me to teach native non-English speakers in a dual-language Spanish/English program. It was unjust and unfair and I am pleased to see that most Oregonians agree with me. I want students to learn English, but taking their native language away from them is not the best way to accomplish the goal. Besides, two languages (or five or six) are better than one. My Latino students in the dual-language program are closing the achievement gap between them and whites. This is not happening at such an extreme rate in English-only programs. It's awesome and I'll never stop fighting for them.

Measure 60 involved merit pay for teachers. Trust me...the deep down hope for this measure is good. I think that high-quality teachers should make more money. BUT, tying it to standardized test scores is NOT the way to monitor teacher ability. The reality is that folks who teach in high-need and low-socioeconomic schools have different challenges from those who teach in schools where most kids are getting what they need at home. When I taught first grade in Silverton I had students come to school who couldn't identify their name or hold a pencil. It takes a lot of work to get that student caught up to students who started preschool at age 2.

Today is a good day. I know that not everyone is happy this morning; we lived that feeling for the past eight years. Now it's our turn.

Hooray for Halloween

We had a bunch of trick-or-treaters last night and Greg had fun opening the door in his costume and growling at them. This would be funny for middle school or high school kids, but not for the little ones who came early to our house. He made one group cry and another little one just held on to his dad's hand and kept repeating, "scary, scary, scary". He has a lot to learn before Baby Stiles makes its debut!

The house looked nice. The creepy warlock was a gift to Greg from a co-worker several years ago. This year we set it up with a strobe light. We also put up orange lights and a bunch of spider webs. We had several comments from people about the warlock, it was a big hit. Pema (our dog) and her friend Tilly Mangan hate the warlock. Pema growled at it several times coming back from walks in the dark until she figured out that it wasn't a threat. Tilly barked and growled and made sure that everyone within a mile radius knew that she was very concerned about it.