Oregon Vaughns

Luis is amazing.

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YouTube Direkt- Singing

A couple of funny things that Lily did today was begin to reply, “Otay” instead of her usual “yes” or “yeah” when affirming something.

For example:

Lily: “Dada, draw Barney?”

Me: “Dada draw?”

Lily: “Otay!”

It is funny, and I have a hard time not laughing with the cute sound of her voice every time she says it.

Secondly, she was trying to show me that the DVD for Elmo was on top of the TV shelf, up high, this evening. Thinking I wasn’t understanding, she showed that she couldn’t reach it herself by reaching her hands up and jumping. Her jump wasn’t sizable, but the effort was significant. She said, “Dada, try?” Apparently, she’s willing to show that it’s worth the effort. Again, cute girl.

On a third note, I think I accidentally gave her an espresso brownie this afternoon. We went to Townshend’s Tea in Downtown, because she and I both wanted a bubble tea after she awakened from her nap. Since the tea sometimes takes a while to make, I bought a chocolate brownie to share with her in the mean time. There was no label, other than “Gluten Free” (on a side-note, I’m attempting to eat gluten free this week). Well, there was no immediate effect. But, within the hour, and for the next two hours she was bouncing off the walls – literally.

She bounced, spinned, leaped, kissed, headbutted, bit, pinched, and more. It was sure signs of a caffeine high, and I explicitly ordered caffeine-free tea.

Next time I’m at Townshends, I have a task to find out if it really was espresso.

There’s lots going on. The sun is shining and we’re having fun. But, we wish everyone could be here with us.

This has been a whirlwind week… I will fill you in the best I can:

We moved to Bend last weekend and I began teaching math at Summit High School.  It is sunny, beautiful, amazing, excellent, you-name-it.  Andy feels like he is in biking/hiking heaven.  I, on the other hand, have not had as much time to explore because I have been trying to catch-up with all this school stuff.

I am teaching 4 classes:  2 Extended Algebras (a year-long pre-algebra / algebra combo), 1 Algebra One, and 1 Algebra Two.  The Extended Algebra course meets every day (80 minutes a-day) and then other two classes meet every other day.

The math department is pretty cool.  I am teaching with an old friend, Matt Johnson.  We have been going to school together since elementary school – so that is fun!  The math department is pretty cohesive:  we share a lot of materials / lessons, eat lunch together, etc…  So far it has been easy to settle into the school part.  I get up at 5:30am and try to be at school by 6:30am…. That part?  Not easy to adjust to.

Our house is still only half-way unpacked.  We are not sure how long we will be in this house.  It is working perfectly for now though.

Lily seems to be loving all of the parks – she is able to play outside a ton (yay for no rain)!  She seems to be adjust well.  She calls this house the “Bend House” or “Lily’s Bend House.”  What else does she do?  Counts to 16 on her own, unprompted (when climbing stairs, or doing other activities).  She says “NO” a lot.  She sends Andy and I away when she wants to play with just Nana: “Dada go downstairs.  Dada downstairs.”

Andy asked Lily the other day why she threw something and her response?  “Terrible twos.”

Lily also loves to sing, that is fun.

Andy has been playing “Mr. Mom”, with the help of Nana, while I have been adjusting to work life.  They are doing a great job.  She is one happy girl.

Andy says he will start blogging and posting pictures during the day.  I hope he does.

Tomorrow, we have a caravan leaving for Bend:

Nana (Lorna) driving her car.

Stacey and Lily driving the Honda full of TVs and fragiles.

Nama (Wanda) driving the Acura full of computers.

Andy driving the U-Haul truck full of everything we own.

Boppa (Bob) driving the pick-up with a U-Haul trailor attached full of more, more and more stuff.

Wow.  We have a lot of stuff.

We are moving to Bend tomorrow?!?!  It is happening.