A Letter by Caleb, Age 12

Caleb wrote this letter to apply for his school's honor society.  It was so cute I had to share.  He's come a long way from snorting Smartie dust on the school playground!

Dear Ms. LaChine,

In my current school career I’m doing my very best to keep my amazing GPA I worked quite hard to achieve. I do all of the requested homework and occasionally missing work and my teachers give me great compliments on the work I have done in their classes. I am happy and having fun in my classes, I’m very proud of myself. As for future school careers I want to be enrolled in a four year college in Washington or Oregon. I want to study engineering and design because these things are very important in life and jobs.

As for my characteristics I’m very funny and zany but serious when needed. I’m zany when I’m with friends and family having fun. I’m serious when I’m in school and in serious situations like doing work I’m told to do. Some of my other characteristics are: I am helpful, giddy, loving, caring, charming and athletic. I like characteristics because it’s what makes you original.

I love being a leader in activities and events because I feel like I have something to show and I do show that. I also love being a leader because you can influence people to do good things. Being a leader is not just about being a leader its telling people what to do and about showing them how to do it to making sure they understand the task. When I’m a leader I take pride in what I’m leading and who I’m leading if it’s making people happy.

I have great citizenship because I love to help people and make them feel better. People are always saying what a great helper I am. I see myself as a great citizen because I love to participate in things that help people and make them feel better.  When I’m at a restaurant or store and I see loose garbage I will throw it away so the area will be clean.

I do lots of service in my community for the people in it. Every Thanksgiving my family and I deliver turkey dinners for the elderly. Even before I moved to Washington from Utah I delivered meals to the elderly and needy. I have also delivered free flowers to the elderly with my family. There is an elderly lady that lives across the street from my family and we help her out when she needs it. Also when I was in 5^th grade I was a reading tutor to kindergarten students.

                                                                       
From, Caleb N. Farnworth

A New Project

This past Christmas I got a new sewing machine.  I wanted to do a sewing project to break in the new machine, learn how to use it and try out some new techniques.  I chose to make a new Christmas tree skirt.  I've wanted to make a new one for years, but never found a pattern for one that I would want to look at every Christmas for at least the next 20 years-until now.  Here it is:

It was very labor intensive, that's why I gave myself 11 months to get it done.  I'm happy to say I finished it in about 6 weeks.  There are 160 holly leaves and 120 buttons and sequins sewn on.  I was able to try out machine blanket stitching, machine quilting and working with bindings for the first time.  I watched many instructional YouTube videos along the way.  I love how it turned out and I LOVE my new machine.  It's made me excited about sewing again.  Now I have to put the tree skirt in the Christmas box until December. :(

Catching Up

I've been very neglectful of my blog for the past few months so here's some of the highlights:

1. July started off with a jam-packed trip to Utah.  We loved spending time with our family and friends.  It was a whirlwind of a week.

2. I made some flower arrangements for a local senior living center.

3.  We went to the "5 Monets for 100 Days" art exhibit at the Portland Art Museum.

4.  We saw some tense cavy (guinea pig) judging at the county fair.

5.  We went to the beach a few times.

6.  Mia endured months of teasing from Jason.

7.  I stopped to smell the roses at the International Rose Test Garden in Portland.

8. We fed a goat with a pulley.

9. The kids learned not to enter a log house filled with hazlenuts with Jason around.

10.  Caleb started middle school and Ethan started high school.

11.  Ethan turned 15

12. Jason and I celebrated our 17th anniversary by going to Disneyland.

13. I spent a week taking classes at The Floral Design Institute.

14. Spent a weekend in Seattle and thereabouts.  We had some Argifun and enjoyed Washington apples.

15. Jason changed out of his pajama pants and started working for Daimler.

16.  We're enjoying fall and the return of the "265 days of rain."

Summer's Over

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Summer's finally over as the kids started school today.  We had a great summer, but it's back to the old grind and waking up at 6am. :(  I had one goal this summer and it was to finish our 2009 scrapbook.  I finished with 2 weeks to spare and I'm on to 2010!  Take a look if you'd like.

Sweet Sixteen

I can't believe it, but Hiram is sixteen.  Here are some pictures from the day:

 In addition to money, Hiram got this plaque with his name written in Chinese.

 

The theme for Hiram's cake is what I like to call, "Ocean Oil Spill."  It was a combo of rainbow chip and chocolate fudge cake topped with vanilla and chocolate frosting and Swedish aqua life.

 I may or may not be standing in a hole in this picture.  Hiram is so tall!

Baboons Go to the Ape Cave

Next on the "Things to Do this Summer" list was a trip to the Ape Cave.  To Jason's disappointment this had nothing to do with apes.  The ape cave is the longest lava tube in the continental US.  It was formed 2,000 years ago when lava flowing from Mt. St. Helens cooled at the surface, but kept flowing underground creating tubes.  It was discovered in the 1950's by a group of hikers called the "St. Helens Apes."
Yesterday was one of those occasions that I felt it was my parental duty to force everyone to get out and have some fun.  I wondered why when the fighting and whining began, but I think everyone did have fun even if they wouldn't admit it. 

 Everyone was SUPER excited to be there!  It was so dark and rocky in places, but we made it to the end about 1 1/4 miles in.  Jason entertained with his ghost and monkey sounds which in turn made every kid in the cave make the same noises.  Caleb kept saying, "We're all going to die!" and that made me think that that would be a bad place to be in the event of an earthquake. Hiram thought it would be a cool place to take his cousins and Ethan thought it was a waste of his Saturday.

 Nearby the Ape Cave is The Trail of Two Forest which was pretty cool.

 I wondered why there were shallow wells everywhere, then I bothered to read the sign.They were holes where trees once were and lava burned them away.

There was a place where the kids could crawl through the underground tunnels.

It was quite a day.  I loved driving through the forest and past reservoirs with great views of Mt. St. Helens along the way.  It's such beautiful country. 

Curious Gorge

It's been 2 months now since Jason quit his job and I must say that it has been great. The mood is so relaxed in our house and I love having him around.  I wish it could go on forever, but as they say "money doesn't grow in trees."  I'm looking forward to a great summer and then he'll have to go back to the IT rat race.  That is, unless he becomes a famous author between now and Labor Day. :)

It has finally stopped raining and it's warming up!  We took advantage of the great weather last Monday and got an early start on my list of "things to do this summer."  We went on a hike near Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River gorge.

 We started at the Horsetail Falls trailhead.  You guessed it, this is Horsetail Falls.

After some steep switchbacks and the realization that we are really out of shape (as retirees flew past us), we encountered Ponytail Falls.

 It's really cool because the trail goes behind the falls.

 

Then we came to a beautiful view of the river

water dripping off a mossy cliff

 

Then we came to a bridge and the last waterfall on the tour, Oneonta Falls.

 Of course there were many beautiful wildflowers along the way.

 If you want to see another cool place we've been, go to my other blog, Chickabloom.com.