It's the beginning of December, so of course, that means that I'm getting the journal up late again. Better late than never, I always say...sometimes.
The month started off with Jada in the middle of the elections here in Oregon. You may recall that she appeared on the cover of Today's OEA magazine with Oregon's governor, Ted Kulongoski. Well, she helped him to victory in the November elections, and partied the night away downtown while the Democrats swept their way into power across the board. Several people saw her on the TV coverage of the party.
Dave's basketball season started for the corporate league, and both of the girls continued with their dance classes. The unfortunate side of this month was when Jada's mom got sick and was no longer able to take care of Phoebe. We scrambled with the help of several of our friends and relatives to get some care provided through December until Jada gets out of school so we can make new arrangements. She is recovering ok, but still has much pain. It's been very stressful for all of us. Phoebe, especially, has been acting out quite a bit with all the changes that she has been coping. She is trying to control anything she can. She has been refusing to nap, staying up after we put her to bed, not using the bathroom when she should, and refusing to eat sometimes. Phoebe also got pretty sick right before Thanksgiving so we had to decline our T-day invitation to the Orphan's dinner. She was better by the end of the month. We just wish we could get her to blow her nose. She still only wipes. On the positive side, she is increasing her sight word recognition
Ellen has still been enjoying school, though she has also had her trying moments. She's pretty excited though now that her 2 front bottom teeth are both loose. The girls had dentist appointments this month, so Ellen was worried that the dentist was just going to pull them out since she has already had the experience before with one of her upper front teeth. But the dentist gave them a clean bill of health, and he didn't even try to pull her teeth out which made her happy. (Dave even received several compliments for the fine work he does with flossing and brushing! Ellen has been feeling the stress as well with increasing number and frequency of tantrums. The oncoming holidays probably won't help much for consistency.
Thanksgiving was low key this year due to illnesses. As I said before, Phoebe was sick so we just had a small dinner over at our house with Laurie and Grandma as guests. We had a stuffed turkey breast from New Seasons, and Jada made her famous pumpkin pie with home made whipped cream. Laurie brought over some yummy diabetic approved dishes for Grandma and her to eat along with Jada's mashed yams, green bean casserole, and vegetables.
We followed that up with Zoo lights the next night. It was dry, but threatening. The buffet was great as always, and we walked it off through the zoo for a short tour to see some of the new features. We didn't want to brave the cold and long lines for the Zoo Train this year. That night, I went out to the airport to pick up Bapa. He was our angel who flew in to help us out for a few weeks to take care of the girls due to Grandma's health issues. We can't thank him enough for providing a consistent care that the girls already knew what to expect and knew they were loved. It gave us time to find Phoebe a new location for day care for after Christmas break that is more suitable to what we will need.
Some of the other highlights of the month included finally getting a storm door for the front of the house, and Dave and Pete riding in the beginners class for the final race in the Cross Crusades which also happened to be the finale of the Crank Brothers US Grand Prix of CycloCross held right here in Portland out at the Hillsboro stadium. It was a fun, European-style race course with stairs, grass, barriers, pavement, bark chip hills, guys in a portable wood burning hot tub, lots of spectators, and lots of mud. After a few weeks of dry weather at the other cities on the USGP circuit, Portland lived up to the legend and delivered a cold, rainy, and muddy course. Man, I was muddy after that one. I went down in the mud once when I dropped my wheel into a hole hidden by the water. You can actually find pictures of me here (Images 4953, 5015, 5036; Pete: 4967). I ended up coming in 42nd out of 69, but having fun is the important thing. Plus the girls got to come watch this one because it was so close. Who knows. Someday, they may be asking me to ride with them in the race.
We got to entertain Pete's mom who came into town the same day that Bapa did for dinner one night. We got to go see the Barenaked Ladies at the Rose Garden. It was an entertaining show as always. They opened with "Wind me up" from the new album, and then worked their way through all of their albums with at least one song. They made up various songs between sets about their activities in Portland over the Thanksgiving long weekend while they were there, nipples (you had to be there), and at least one other that I can't remember at the moment. If you've never been to a BNL show, you should really try to go to one. Just don't expect high artistry. They just have fun up there, and make it fun for the rest of us. I wasn't a fan until I went to see them live for the first time during the Stunt tour. They are just really funny. Finally, I took Bapa to his first NBA game with the Portland Trail Blazers against the Phoenix Suns. I think he had fun. The Blazers lost, of course, but it's always fun to watch Steve Nash play. The Matrix didn't have much of a game, but Amare Stoudamire was just starting to round into form after a lackluster start following his knee surgery last year. He's been on a tear since then.
Again, sorry this is so late, but it's been one of those months. I think I'll start on December now.
Journal entry: 12/10/2006