http://gallery.me.com/stinch#100189

Alyssa:
She started in the older preschool class at the first of the year and loves it. Now she is with the other kids who will start kindergarten this fall. (Did I really just say that? Can she be that old?) She has become even more of a social butterfly and loves her friends! It’s been a lot of fun getting her friends together for play dates. However, her sister is still her very best friend and they spend endless hours making up games. The favorites right now usually revolved around using all the stuffed animals to make a pet store, using their dolls as students while they are the teachers or Alyssa being the baby and Danica being her mom. She likes her doll house and creates fun stories with her Barbies. She continues her role as the family clown making sure everyone is always laughing. I got frustrated last night because they weren’t following directions at bedtime and she later got out of bed to come tell me she was sorry. I said thank you and she said “okay, so you’re happy now?” Apparently she couldn’t sleep while she was worried I was upset. She is well aware that she’s the baby of the family and she plays that card often. I tend to find myself carrying her around and putting on her shoes and all sorts of other things I know she can do by herself...oh well, she won’t let me do it forever.

Danica:
She was invited to try out for JAG, it stands for Jupiter Advanced Girls, it is the advanced girls gymnastics group for her age. She did well and has joined the new class where she is completely thriving!

It's a huge commitment for our family because she now goes to class on Wednesday and Friday from 4-6, yes, that's 4 hours a week! But she loves every minute of it. She is constantly working on getting stronger and being presented with new challenges but instead of shying away from them or coming crying to me because she can't do it, she is just trying her hardest and is so happy with each little success. She’s always been such a shy, timid girl that this is a very positive change in her and we are happy she is having so much fun. She recently got brave enough and strong enough to climb to the top of the very high rope!! Her new found confidence has also been great as we have taken up rock climbing at our gym. Instead of being to scared to try she just scales the wall so fast! It’s really fun to watch!

I started teaching her piano lessons and she is doing really well. She’s eager to learn and enjoys it. It helps that she is such a great reader. In fact, she’s on page 40 of a chapter book she’s reading all by herself!
Among other things she has also proven her ability to clean up her room all by herself and when she is given enough time and motivation. I stayed downstairs and they called me up and I found it immaculate! The only problem is that now that I know what she is capable of I want it to be cleaned well all the time! Hopefully Alyssa can learn to help out! Here is a picture of them after cleaning it so well!

Danica is the sweetest big sister, she wrote Alyssa this note.


Hayden:
He has finally found his stride in 4th grade and is doing well and enjoying the confidence of climbing to the top of the class. Math was tough but he’s got a handle on all the division and fractions and doesn’t complain as much...although he still complains plenty! He has made some friends but still wishes he had more. He told me this morning that it’s just not fair that Danica and Alyssa have each other and he has no one. His friends and cousin couldn’t play much last week and he had “the worst week of his life.” The best thing in Hayden’s life is his cousins, he lives for the chance to hang out with them.

He has gotten into the rock climbing and is doing well and enjoys challenging himself which is nice because he hates challenges at school or in the piano.

We signed him up for little league and look forward to that starting. He’s gone out running a few times and is good to ride his bike to his friends or cousins house. He set out on his bike today in the rain and I just kept telling him to be careful until he finally cut in with “Mom, I get it, I’ll be careful!” I guess I’m not totally ready for him to grow up either! Luckily he still loves for me to rub his back and read to him at night. Hopefully that will never stop!

Tom:
He continues to enjoy working at Discovery Dental and hopes that work will just keep getting busier. In the meantime, Adina is doing a lot of great marketing. Tom is also going around to the schools in the area doing fantastic presentations about dental hygeine. They are fun and informative and the kids really love it.

He sends them all home with a bag of goodies including info about Discovery Dental so hopefully that will bring in more patients.
On Monday he works at a practice up in Longview (about an hour north of here). In the free time he does find he is busy training for his half iron man this summer. He’s biking, running and swimming a lot. Right now his main focus is actually on trail running because he signed up for a Mountain Man Marathon! He’s been training and it’s just two weeks away! 26 miles on a trail! I’ll let you know how it goes!
At church he has thankfully been relieved of his scout committee duties and is now the Ward Mission Leader. It proves to be bringing in some good challenges and the opportunity to work with a lot of great men.
We got to dog sit last weekend for Chief. Tom was in heaven wishing he could keep it forever. The kids were terrified and spent the first few days sitting on the table and wearing snow boots around the house but we finally got them used to him and now they really miss having him around. If Tom has his way he’ll have a dog soon.



Tom’s birthday was on the 16th. It was not the most fun day, just a lot of work and he had a church meeting while I was doing a scout meeting. But we did get to go out the next night to a concert in Portland. We saw Mat Kearney and he was fantastic. Great music and a really fun show!! I can’t wait to go see him again!

Tracey:
Busy as usual. That’s the way I like it. Of course the kids are the primary factor in my life. I am working really hard to help them be more independent. They are getting better at doing their chores and helping around the house. I don’t want to put myself out of a job but I do feel like they need to know how to be responsible. I know I'm doing it right because the kids hate the extra work. In fact, sweet little Danica left me this note one day. But don't worry, she later changed it saying I as the best.

I’ve been in charge of the 8 year old cub scouts and just finished taking the lead on the Blue and Gold banquet last week. It was a ton of work and I”m glad it’s over. I was actually released as the scout leader and am now the Relief Society Compassionate Service leader which is a wonderful opportunity to get to know everyone and to serve. Until they get a new scout leader I am doing both jobs which is fine because it reminds me of how busy I was in Japan!
However, I am not too busy to still take time for myself every day and I am working hard to train for my sprint triathlon in June. We joined a gym with a pool so that I could learn to swim.

Starting in January I could only make it 25 meters without stopping because I was completely exhausted and out of breath. I wasn’t sure I would survive the swim portion of the race and every time I tried to go swimming I just hated it. I really wanted to give up but Tom wouldn’t let me and I didn’t want to be a quitter so I’ve persisted. Finally one day after getting some in the pool coaching from Adina, things finally clicked. I began to be able to swim for greater distances and started to hate it less. I tried to get Hayden excited for me and I said “Hayden, I’ve got great news! I have been trying really hard to learn to swim and I really wanted to quit but I didn’t! And now I am able to swim. Isn’t that great?” I was hoping to inspire him and all he said was “How is that great news to me?” Oh well.
I still like running the best and am working on getting faster in preparation for a half marathon in May. I actually won a local 10K race on Presidents day. It was a lot of fun. I try to get on my bike 1-2 times a week as well but need it to stop raining so I can get out there on some longer rides!! I went out one day in a big wind storm and ended up getting literally blown over on my bike which is a problem because I was clipped to my pedals and couldn't' break my fall. I think I'll skip the ride the next time it's that's windy!!

Well I think that’s about it for now....

Here is the Track & Field Schedule for 2012:

• March 20 - Home vs Columbia HS
• March 27 - Washougal, Hockinson @ Woodland
• April 13 - John Ingram Invite @ Columbia River HS
• April 14 - Al McKee Invite @ Stevenson HS
• April 18 - Home vs Vancouver Christian & Seton Catholic
• April 20 - Kalama Twilight @ Kalama
• April 21 - Centennial Invite
• April 24 - Home vs RA Long
• April 27 - Panther Twilight @ WHS
• May 1 - @ Mark Morris
• May 4 - SW Washington Invitational
• May 11 - Sub Districts
• May 18 - Districts
• May 24, 25, 26 - State @ Mt. Tahoma

It promises to be another exciting season!

I guess I’ll throw in an update here since Adina specifically requested one from everyone and I do feel that I have been neglecting the blog, especially as one of the more active contributors.

It makes me very happy to say that my life pretty much completely involves Eric now so I will write about what “we” are doing and have planned…

Recently…

…enjoying my work in my new position. We just found someone to take over my old position so I won’t be doing two jobs for much longer and I can really get started with all the projects I want to do.

…a visit from my best friend Matthew including a sushi challenge with Dad, Matthew and Eric. Eric won by a plate.

…a very cold and windy trip up to Multnommah Falls.










…playing with the cats. Eric has two. I am not a cat person. I am becoming a cat person. :)




…started training for the Epic Relay we are all doing in June, including new running shoes for both of us.

…back to my natural red hair, much to Eric’s delight. No more dying for me!




…amazing Valentine’s dinner at Morton’s steakhouse with a huge brownie and ice cream sundae to finish it off







And for our planned adventures…

…an amazingly selfless Valentine’s gift from Eric of awesome tickets to see Beauty & the Beast: The Musical tonight. I told him – “You are aware there will be people dressed as forks and spoons that will be dancing and singing, right??” But he knows what I like!

…some great timing brought me a way to pay him back for above gift – four tickets to the Trailblazers game tomorrow from my company’s CEO (same seats Mom & Dad used for Vday)! We are taking Kim & Treven with us for Kim’s birthday so it should be a really fun double date!




…my 11th annual Oscar party next Sunday! I’ve been brainstorming ideas for the food but I think I’ve finally decided. You’ll all be getting an email soon. Hope you are getting your finest digs ready!




…the first weekend of March we are taking a trip down to San Diego to try to find some of that long lost sunshine. I’m really excited to show San Diego to Eric and have him see where I am from and meet more of my friends. We are even going to be spending a day at Disneyland, just us, while we are there. He hasn’t been since he was 6 years old so he really doesn’t remember much. As you all know, Disneyland is a pretty big deal for me so I am excited to share it with him.

…I’m moving! Not away from Portland – well, yes, technically away from Portland but as of April 1st, I will be a resident of Lake Oswego! Eric & I found a great place in the Mountain Park area – a three-bedroom, two-story townhome that I’ll be moving into when my contract is up at my current place in April. It is a really nice area and I am excited to actually have a parking spot!

Well, that’s a lot as I look back at it but quite a bit has been happening and changing in my life so far this year so it is quite an update! So there you go! Look forward to hearing from the rest of you!

http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/decorating/bedroom-walls-00417000070400/page2.html

The sofa bed thing in the picture

Recent adventures:

Skiing for first time
Fire station field trip
Veneers
Silliness at home
Birthday celebrations
Long trip to Spokane and back
Visiting Vancouver almost every weekend this year.
Called as 2nd counselor in YW presidency
Finally having long enough hair to make a cute ponytail
Turning 4 and bring able to put seatbelt on by himself
Late nights = lack of sleep in Olsen household
2 weeks until we find out what gender #4 will be
Running off season volleyball trainings 4 days a week and trying to get as much done before this baby comes in July.

Yes this is random but kind of gives you all an insight into our current lives