New Mexico Trip Part 1 (Santa Fe)

My friend/coworker, Lural, and I had the opportunity to attend a really excellent Training of Trainers conference in Santa Fe for dual language educators. It was one of those things that we would have traveled anywhere for but were just lucky that it was in lovely Santa Fe at the Hilton, just 2 blocks off of the plaza.

My endlessly patient and accommodating mom agreed to go with us to take care of Owen and Quincy as well as Lural's 10-month-old, Santiago. My mom and the boys spent the bulk of the days out and about in the plaza area of Santa Fe. My mom was constantly being stopped by passersby who commented on the babies and then got lured into conversation with Owen. By Thursday, Owen had made many friends. My mom told me the following story:
They were walking down the street, and there was a man putting money in a meter. Owen said, "Hey, I've seen you before!" To which the man replied, "Yes, you're Owen. And (pointing at the stroller) you're Santiago, and you're..." It turned out that this was Rick, the owner of the book store. Later that evening Owen said to me, "Mom, do you want to go for a little walk and meet the owner of the book shop?"

Here are Quincy and Santiago during one of the very few synchronized naps that they took.

As you may or may not know, Santa Fe is known for its art. One art form that is abundant is sculpture, and Owen fell in love with many sculptures in Santa Fe. In fact, he made daily rounds to several of them--especially to feed the eagles and to play on the bears.

Owen may have only had a one-sided conversation with this new friend.
I love this picture. It shows the developmental stages of these three boys on a beautiful sculpture.Owen was a little sad on Wednesday evening because I had told him that I would take him swimming. However, when we got to the hotel room we found that a large private party was being held on the pool deck. Owen insisted that they wouldn't care if we went swimming anyway and couldn't understand why I didn't feel comfortable parading out there in my swimming suit in front of all of those people. So, his little disappointed self stood at the sliding glass door that faces the pool deck and watched the party. Oh, did I mention that he was naked?

My mom's long time friend and colleague, Kay, met us in Santa Fe on Thursday to hang out with (and help) my mom and the boys. While the two of them went out to dinner without any kids, Lural and I put the boys to bed. When they got back, they stayed with the sleeping babes while Lural and I got to enjoy a meal in a restaurant without kids. It was so relaxing! I set Owen up to listen to a book on the iPod while I put Quincy to bed, and this is how I found him:And, finally, just two of my favorite shots of my boys while we were in Santa Fe...

Quincy's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Quincy's 1st birthday with a party at the park. The seemingly omnipresent clouds disappeared, and we were treated to beautiful sunshine. The only drawback was some wind, but once that died down it was perfect. Actually, the wind made for perfect kite flying conditions, and it turns out that Uncle Pat is quite the kite pilot. Thanks, Uncle Pat! Here are some pictures from the party...

Here are all the babies (left to right: Rory (15 months), Alex (14 months), Quincy (12 months), Cole (8 months)--Owen and Mia are off playing somewhere):
Owen and Mia climbing the mountain:

Quincy and Cousin Rory getting ready to slide:


Uncle Pat piloting the shark kite:
Mia playing with a turtle balloon:

You know what they say...the family that plays together...

I made a turtle cake out of banana cupcakes:

The Birthday Prince (The Klinkhammers got him this adorable birthday crown!):

Quincy wasted no time getting into the frosting:
Thanks to everyone who came to Quincy's party to help us celebrate his first year! Quincy (and we) are so very blessed with the absolute best family and friends, and for that we are eternally grateful. It certainly takes a village to raise a kid, and we thank you all for being part of our village.

The Q is One!

Quincy Donovan Sahnow on June 11, 2007Quincy Donovan Sahnow on June 11, 2008The Birthday Boy in His Birthday Suit

I don't know how a whole year has possibly lapsed since this precious baby was born, but I realize that somehow it has. Last year on June 11th, I went to school and taught in the morning. By 3:10 that afternoon Quincy had made his grand entry into his daddy's waiting hands and our family's hearts.

Quincy has been an absolutely wonderful baby since day 1. He was the most laid-back happy-go-lucky baby that I think I've ever met in my life. He is a little more opinionated in his toddlerhood. He demands to be picked up and then immediately squirms to be put down. For all the time that he happily let his big brother steamroll or tackle him, Quincy now squeals at Owen if he (Owen) takes away whatever toy he is playing with, knocks him down, etc. He loves life and laughs his way through it.

He is very adventurous. I often hear him calling me with a very specific "eh" from the general area of our stairway. I usually find him on our landing (4 steps up from the ground floor) poised to take on the final 10 steps as soon as I get there to see him do it. He does this with a twinkle in his eye and a mischievous grin that I imagine says, "I know I'm not supposed to be doing this, Mommy, but watch me anyway!"

He is a bit of a daredevil. He loves to climb onto things and then put his arms up in victory and laugh. For example: a few weeks ago I was trying to unload the dishwasher when Quincy discovered me--or rather, he discovered the open dishwasher. I turned around to put a stack of dishes in the cabinet, and when I turned back around he was standing up on the dishwasher door!

Two days ago he was playing on the kids' patio furniture that is outside on their mini patio. He first climbed up onto the bench by himself. Pretty soon he was standing on it, and shortly after that he was bouncing and making it rock since it's not on a completely even surface. About a minute later he was bending over on said bench and did a handless somersault onto the concrete pavement. He cried for about 4 seconds and then was climbing back up again.

He continues to look like a little cherub with rosy cheeks and bright blue eyes. He has a grin that could melt anyone's heart, and is a very snuggly little boy. I am just the luckiest to be his mom.

First Kiss

Brady and I were kissing, and I had Quincy in my arms. Quincy pushed Brady away, and as Brady was saying, "I know you like to get in between us, but we're kissing," Quincy leaned in and gave me an open-mouthed kiss. Now when you ask for a kiss, Quincy plants a big wet one on you. Pretty sweet. Is 11.5 months too young for an Oedipus complex?

Sunriver

We just got back from 6 days in Sunriver, and it was such a treat! I drove over last Wednesday with the boys and my mom. Lourdes and Jo flew into Redmond and met us in Sunriver that night. Brady joined us Friday afternoon. Even though we only had one sunny central Oregon day before several days of clouds and rain showers, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I won't recap each day, but here are some highlights:

• Making bird/squirrel feeders out of pine cones that Owen collected and then watching the animals enjoy them
• Bend Children's Museum--I could make a whole separate list of highlights just under this category. Owen loves this place and could spend a whole day there!
  
• Walking through the village
• Visiting open houses and thinking about our own possible Sunriver house
• Goody's ice cream shop (3 visits, to be exact)
• Bike rides--including Quincy's first ride in the bike trailer and Owen's first rides on the tag-along as well as a 2-wheeler with training wheels.
  
• An afternoon at the beautiful High Desert Museum--Owen has been playing "High Desert Museum" ever since we got back to Corvallis and sleeps with his new river otter puppet
• Having 3 grandmas on hand which meant that I shipped the kids downstairs and TWICE slept in until 9:00!!!
• Dinner at Merenda in downtown Bend
• A pony ride followed by lassoing an iron calf (or trying to)
  
• Playing at Fort Rock Park--Owen and Quincy both went down the slides more times than I can count. Unfortunately, we never had a camera there with us.

Most of the pictures were taken on Lourdes and Jo's camera, but here are a few that I took.


Here is Owen riding Houdini
Owen, Brady and Lourdes roping the calfOwen and I riding bikes (or should I say bike?)
Quincy and Brady watching the bike riders
Here's Owen trying a 2-wheeler

In this picture Lourdes is demonstrating to Owen how Eagles use their talons to catch their prey. Owen is really into birds of prey these days.
I love this picture of Owen's excitement about Thomas the river otterOwen reading a sign. This is what he was saying: "Be very quiet so you don't scare the birds, and stay on the path."Here's a picture of Owen and me inside the tipi
Quincy outside the High Desert Museum

Bill's Visit

Bill Clinton that is. So the former president made a campaign stop at good ol' Lincoln School on Monday (this is the school where I teach). All school staff members were allowed to bring guests and be in the VIP section. We debated for a while about whether or not to take the boys and finally decided that they should get involved in politics as early as possible. (See earlier posts regarding Owen's interest in the campaign).
My mom picked Owen up from Seedings (his play school) and reported the following conversation to me when she got home:
Annanne: Owen, we're going to go home and play for a while before going to Mommy's school to see former President Bill Clinton.
Owen: Who?
Annanne: Bill Clinton. He used to be our president.
Owen: Like Bush?
Annanne: Yes.
Owen: My mom doesn't like President Bush. (pause) How many other presidents have I not met?

Brady, Stan, my mom, Owen, Quincy, and I all arrived at Lincoln at 4:45 for Bill's scheduled 6:00 speech. We were let into the gym at 5:15. An hour and 45 minutes later, Clinton still wasn't there, and the temperature in the gym had escalated greatly. Suddenly the campaign organizers started ushering everyone out saying that they made a last minute change because so many people had shown up that there were more people waiting outside than there were in the gym, which was already past capacity. I was pretty upset, not only for ourselves, but for a number of our Lincoln students who had been standing in their front row spots waiting for an hour and forty five minutes only to be escorted out to somewhere in the midst of the crowd. Anyway, as luck would have it, we got ushered out and ended up right in the front row just a few feet from the bed of the pick-up that BC spoke from.
And how was the speech? Actually, it was really great. He spoke for over an hour, and it was so refreshing to listen to such an intelligent man and be reminded that I haven't always been smarter than our president (a feeling that I'm not at all comfortable with--feeling like our president is truly dumb, that is). I have to say that I have been loosely backing Obama from my perch on the fence for several months now, but I'm really seriously considering changing my vote now. I told Brady that it's sort of like tuning into a sports game and not caring who wins and therefore cheering for the underdog. I guess that's why they bother making these campaign stops, isn't it? Quincy got tired, and Owen got a little bored, but they were really great. BC made the rounds at the end of his speech. He shook both Owen's and my hands and then cupped Owen's cheek in his palm. Owen picked out a big pink button that says "Hillary Rocks!" afterward. We arrived home at 8:30!

Here's a conversation that took place in the car the next morning.
Owen: Mom, who did we meet this morning?
Mommy: Do you mean last night?
Owen: Yeah, who did we meet last night?
Mommy: Bill Clinton.
Owen: Yeah, Bill Clinton. That was a long day!

Here are some pictures that my mom got from her vantage point, which was behind the truck.

Here are Quincy and I listening to the speech:

Here are Brady and Owen listening to the speech:Bill making the rounds:

Mother's Day

What a great Mother's Day! Brady got up with the boys so that I could sleep in, which I did until 8:20! What a treat! My mom and I went to church with the boys, and then we met up with Brady at the pool. Quincy was too sick (another ear infection and rattly cough), so Brady and I went swimming with Owen while my mom brought Quincy home. With a little help from Stan and Owen, Brady made a Mother's Day feast. For those of you that know that Brady's cooking repertoire normally consists of sandwiches and wiener wraps, try not to fall off your chairs. He made pork chop calzones, which are thick pork chops stuffed with prosciutto, provolone, fresh basil, and fresh sage. To go with them he made grilled marinated asparagus, and Stan made mashed potatoes and strawberry shortcake. It was all so delicious! We missed Linda, who is on a trip to Arizona with her girlfriends. The boys gave me a very sweet giraffe charm for my Pandora bracelet. I love it!

Brady Prepping food:

The inaugural meal on the new BBQ:
Quincy playing while we were waiting for dinner:
The feast: