The White Family's blog

Dress up

2010-01-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

Lesley's work is having a fund raising winter ball. It was decided that the kids of employees would dress up and have their picture taken as a promotion for the ball. Results below.

And of course looking like a gangster we had to do this...

Pixie man

2009-12-27T15:24:00.000-08:00

We have a hole in the bathtub...probably toy sized although neither of the kids know how on earth it could possibly have got there. Olllie and I went to the store to buy a repair kit which we could not find. I told him we might have to have someone come over and fix it...

Ollie: Maybe a cowboy?...no not a cowboy, he couldn't do it...probly a pixie man.
Me: a pixie man?
Ollie: Yes a pixie man could come and pix it.
Me: a fixie man?
Ollie: Yes. A pixie man.

I need help

2009-12-23T19:28:00.001-08:00

Ollie needs help...he is trying to do a puzzle...it is 5.45 am...I need help too...

Oliver is not sleeping

2009-12-10T19:32:00.000-08:00

instead he is singing his ABC's. Complete with the yeaaahhhh at the end. We have already had the:

O: Daddy...daddy...daddy...daddy...daddy...
Me: Yes ollie...
O: I was just calling you
Me: I know...what do you want?
O: Nothing...n o t h i n g a t a l l...

Haloween 2009

2009-11-01T12:27:00.000-08:00

Scariest haloween freaks ever!!

Bikes

2009-09-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

I wanna get ready to go...I wanna get ready to go...I wanna get ready to go...I wanna get ready to go...I wanna get ready to go...I wanna get ready to go...I wanna get ready to go...I wanna get ready to go...Where do you want to go Ollie? RIDE BIKES!

Pirate festival Arrghhh maties

2009-09-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

So we had to go to the pirate festival when it came to town. We had heard that it was full of "grown up" pirates, who dress as pirates full time and just go to the festival once a year. True there were some phenomenal outfits adorning the more serious pirate people, but there were also a lot of families there for fun cobbling together pirate garb from whatever was lying around. We found these 2 blackhearts roaming around somewhere. They both managed to come home with swords (given to them by other people who had decided swords and kids should not mix) Ollie likes to throw his - surprise - and Sophie likes to start what she cannot finish and then run away from Ollie screaming which he also thinks is hilarious. Ollie does a great "walk the plank" snarl too.

Rockaway Beach

2009-08-20T21:36:00.000-07:00

A day at the beach. Sand everywhere, sunburns, cold cold water. It really is the best thing ever.

Playtime

2009-08-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

When a promised steam train ride was left in the dust of "not running on Wednesdays" we hit the park for some playtime. Ollie managed to launch off the top of the see saw (teeter totter) and tumble to the ground. I think it is a right of passage really.

West Coast Game Park

2009-08-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

Where we got to roam free with the animals (Llama, goat, donkey, goose & sheep), pet a baby lion, a baby leopard and a baby possum, and generally watch many animals holed up in small cages do things which were cute/adorable/disturbing. I am sure the 5 week old lion could have eaten Ollie for breakfast.

Road trip to Coquille

2009-08-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

We spent 5 days traveling and sightseeing on our way to see Grandpa Ian in Coquille. On the way we stopped at a water park in Springfield, Winston Safari park, West Coast Game Park in Bandon, the Tollamook Cheese factory and Rockaway Beach. Below are some pictures of the trip.

Winston Safari Park:

Big Big Steam Train...

2009-07-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

Sophie, Ollie and Daddy went to Portland to see the departure of the very large old steam train which was heading out to Michigan for a train festival.

Dancing Queen

2009-05-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

Or rather dancing princess. Sophie's evening class of creative movement aka "ballet" culminated tonight in a performance to rock the world. A steady cam could have been used here but I was not aware that Ollie needed to climb on me and could not sit still for the 90 seconds needed. Still at least he did not run around during the performance like the other kid!

PARTY!!

2009-05-18T19:34:00.000-07:00

Ollie's birthday party! It was 85 degrees and sunny. We started with a trip to the fire station to have a look around, then on to the party at the park. Sprinklers were on and well used. The fire engine bouncy castle was a hit too. Quite a day for all.

Princess Firefighters.

2009-05-07T19:25:00.000-07:00

So Oliver Morgan White turned 2. For some reason the first year flew by and the second crawled for me. Anyway, being that he loves all things fire engine related we got him a large toy fire truck. Granny Bee and Grandpa Will got him some "masculine" dressing up clothes as he has a penchant for Sophie's princess outfits. Well, you can see how that turned out!

Sam & Lesley 8 years of love

2009-05-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

May the 3rd 2009 - our wedding anniversary. We went wine tasting in the afternoon and out to dinner in the evening with the help of babysitters. Ahhhhhh

Acrobat

2009-02-16T18:46:00.000-08:00

Oliver performing acrobatics

Superheros

2009-02-16T18:30:00.000-08:00

Sophie & Ollie playing superheros.

Tooth Fairy

2009-02-15T18:38:00.000-08:00

Sophie's tooth finally fell out. Rather I yanked it out. It didn't seem to hurt (believe me she would have told me) although it did bleed a little. So now it is under the pillow waiting for the tooth fairy who has been notified of the important route change for tonight. Here is photographic evidence of the beginning of the awkward transition into grown up teeth, along with goofy Mr. Oliver who wanted to be in on the action. Admittedly he has some toothless gaps too.

Sam Builds a boat

2009-01-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

In order to visit Gareth, Marc & Nick in Australia, I am building a boat. Not bad for a first try I think.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas is finally here!

2008-12-25T14:00:00.000-08:00

After all the build up, 2 weeks of snow, birthday parties, birthdays, a week off work, it finally arrived. And it arrived at 5.22 am for some little creatures. I think it would still have been there at 9 or even 8 or 7, but it officially kicked off at 5.22 am. Stockings first, then presents from the tree, then off to Grandma and Grandpa's for brunch, presents and more presents, and dinner. Sophie says all her presents are her favourites (secretly I think she likes her pink guitar best) and Oliver liked everything with wheels (which was a lot of stuff), especially some magnetic cars which he could string together into a train (his 2 favourite things) from his Aunty Tamsin and a stand up comedian Elmo critter. Melissa McKeown knitted us all very fashionable scarves too.

Christmas eve with Santa

2008-12-24T13:51:00.000-08:00

We ventured out in the snow to see Santa at a local restaurant. Oliver was NOT going to sit on the lap of any strange looking red and white clad HoHoHo-ing beardy fellow, even if he did promise presents. Sophie, however, was all over the man, wanting to know where he parked the reindeer.

Sophie White is FIVE!

2008-12-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

Sophie's birthday has arrived! 5 years old already. If she looks kind of sleepy in the morning it is because it was way too early. One excited birthday girl got to open more presents in the marathon present season, then we went to the Cheesecake factory for a special birthday lunch and on to Build-a-Bear to make a birthday bear.

Sophie's Birthday Party!

2008-12-20T18:06:00.000-08:00

Sophie and her friends braved the 12" of snow to have a great birthday at Out Of This World Pizza.

SNOW!

2008-12-19T13:25:00.000-08:00

Portland had about 12" of snow for about 2 weeks including Christmas day. Lots of fun then less fun then annoying, dangerous, house-binding, family destroying cold wet cold messy dirty snow. Here are some pictures of the more fun snow times.

Christmas tree hunting

2008-12-04T08:05:00.000-08:00

The White family (and Honey Bear) treks out into the "wild" to hunt,
track and fell a Christmas tree.

balancing act

2008-11-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

This weekend Sophie Ellen White learned how to ride her bike with no training wheels (stabalisers for you English folks). She declared on Saturday morning that she wanted to ride with only 2 wheels, so we gave it a try and she picked it up within 10 minutes. Needless to say we spent most of the weekend outside rising around and around & learning how to start and stop. She is now so confident that she is back to her 4-wheeled ways of daydreaming, weaving, not concentrating and not looking where she is going. I suppose the inevitable crash will bring her back to reality (if anything can). We have a movie of the event which I will post soon.

2008-11-05T16:12:00.000-08:00

Mornings! (by Lesley)

2008-11-04T16:11:00.000-08:00

Who would have thought, 5 years ago, that I would have a morning like this one---all before 8am. I’m counting down the hours for the election results, but mostly I’m counting down the hours until the kids go to bed this evening.

Since Father Time (or whoever is in charge of turning back the clocks) forgot to tell Oliver that it’s actually 5am and not 6am, we’ve been getting an early start these past 3 days. Sophie has this deep horrible cough and last night had a fever of about 103. She woke up several times due to not feeling well. Both kids were with me downstairs, and while Ollie was attempting to wear/eat some yogurt, Sophie was sitting on the sofa. Later, Ollie decided that he wanted toast with peanut butter, and proceeded to lick all the peanut butter off the toast and toss the rest on the floor (because that’s where things go when you are finished with them, right?). He was finished and after I cleaned him up, I was pleasantly surprised when he began playing quietly (this should have been my first clue). I was then able get Sophie some breakfast (since somehow I have become a short-order cook who ends up making three or four different things for breakfast in an attempt to get my kids to eat) and Sophie decided that applesauce was the only thing that wouldn’t hurt her throat. Meanwhile, Ollie wanders back in and goes over by Sophie, presumably to beg some food. Sophie says, “Mom, there’s peanut butter all over the place”. I come over and see what looks like peanut butter all over Ollie’s hands, Sophie’s foot and the rug in front of the sliding glass doors. I cleaned Ollie up before I let him get down—what is this!? Upon closer inspection, I realize that the peanut butter is, in fact, poop that has somehow escaped from Ollie’s diaper. When I tell Sophie this, she looks down at her foot and starts gagging and retching. While I am washing Ollie up in the sink, I shout to her to go into the bathroom. Sophie sort of hops to the bathroom where she proceeds to throw up her applesauce. I go in there to wipe off her foot and hold back her hair, and Ollie, with clean hands but a diaper full of poop, waddles over to the toilet to watch the show. After that is finished, I go out to retrieve the rug, only to find that Nia had taken it upon herself to clean up. Gross!

Now, it’s almost 9am and Ollie is cleaned up and sleeping. Sophie is watching cartoons and I’m drinking a cup of coffee. Barack Obama better win, because I don’t think I could take anymore craziness today!

Haloween

2008-11-01T17:58:00.000-07:00

The princess and the frog went trick or treating in the neigbourhood. The frog was most confused with the whole thing but loved it when people gave him candy and chocolate. He soon picked up on what was going on. We have lots of older retired people on our neighbourhood, so not many trick or treaters and lots of doting grannies and grandpas desparate to give away treats to little cuties.
SCORE!

Pumpin Patch 2008

2008-10-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

My favourite time of the year. We all went to the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins to carve for Halloween. We went with our friends Brian and Wendy and their daughter Savannah. What a beautiful autumn day.

Barbados

2008-10-10T14:37:00.000-07:00

September - October 2008 (including my birthday!)

Me, Lesley, kids, mum & dad went to Barbados for our holidays.

What a place. Friendly people, lovely (hot) weather and amazing scenery. Too bad that we had to leave and come back to rather rainy rather grey Portland. Ho humm.

New family photos 9/5/08

2008-09-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos that my friend Amy took of our family while she and her husband were visiting. Believe me, it was pretty amazing that she was able to get any shots at all, with Ollie wiggling and screaming and Nia wanting to run around. Because this is such a rare event, you may see one of these on a Christmas card. : )

Sophie's First (again) Day Of School

2008-09-04T16:01:00.000-07:00

Sophie has been away from school for a while and since she is going to be in the first year of "real" school next year, we decided she should learn how it's done again. So, we are all very excited and here are some pictures of her first day at "A Child's Way", a local preschool where she will be for 2 1/2 hours a day 3 days a week for the next year.

Newport

2008-08-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

We spent this last weekend at Newport, a small fishing town (and tourist haven) on the Oregon coast. We rented a house with some friends who have kids similar ages to Soph and Oli. It was quite the time, lots of fun and tired kids. Here are some pictures of the beach, didn't get any of the aquarium as we were too busy chasing kids around!

County Fair

2008-08-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

Washington county fair. Oliver was left out a bit but as you can see Sophie had a great time on the rides, and we had a good chance to be city slickers and marvel at the wonders that are farm animals. "Look Sophie, that's where milk comes from". We did also get to see a newly born calf complete with afterbirth hanging from Mum!

Oliver White turns 1!!

2008-08-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I know it happened fast but the little boy had his first birthday. We had lots of people over for cake and partying.

Oliver White growing up (too fast) and Sophie

2008-08-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

Updating

2008-08-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well, looks like it has been a year since I updated this. I really should work on the website too or houseofwhites.net will never get off the ground. I am adding some pictures to fill in the missing year, of course not much changes in a year, only growing kids moving house holidays beach trips and on and on. So, if it seems like I am skimping, I am so there. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Sam

2007-09-07T21:59:00.001-07:00

Sophie got a new train set with the gift cards she got from the Acme company picnic. She certainly seems proud

Oliver is sitting up by himself and seems very happy about it.

4 months

2007-09-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

So Oliver is 4 months old. time flies when you are not sleeping well! He is such a happy little man, laughs so much and is very interested in all going on around him. He can roll over and sit up a little bit. We think he will be sitting up properly in another month.

Sophie has discovered she is in charge of her toilet habits and has decided to not poop on the toilet any more, and not poop at all if she can help it. It is a little frustrating to say the least, but we have resigned to this regression and let her wear pullups if she wants to. So close but yet so far.

Apart from that she can write her own name and is joyful in learning the letter things start with. She walks around the house saying b..b..b..bellybutton etc.

Anyway here are some pictures of the cuties themselves.

Dad (& Mum, Terry & Kathy) babysit

2007-07-14T20:01:00.000-07:00

We went to the wedding reception and left the oldies in charge of the young'uns.

Grandpa Will with Sophie, Oliver and Lotte (Gareth & Femka's little one)

Brighton Beach

2007-07-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

Here we are having a jolly old time on the beach in Brighton

2007-07-01T10:01:00.001-07:00

Some new pictures of Sophie and her little baby brother Oliver relaxing on a Sunday morning.

Oliver Morgan White

2007-05-08T16:26:00.000-07:00

The long wait is over...

Sophie get's the camera

2007-03-31T22:18:00.000-07:00

I am sure you will agree that the little 3 year old is quite the budding photographer, utilizing the light and capturing the form of all her frames.

Sophie and Elizabeth

2007-03-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

Toilet Training

2007-02-05T08:37:00.000-08:00

Hey, here's a re-cap of today, and if it doesn't sound that bad, remember that I feel like crap to begin with.
1st: Sophie wakes up early, and insists on planting her elbows into my back/side while watching TV. Thus, gaining anymore sleep was impossible.

2nd: The gymnastics fiasco--wrong day, right time. Sophie did watch the class and kept saying "I want to do that", which made me feel great.

Intermission: I had her try to go to the bathroom at least once per hour, which is actually quite a production, even if she doesn' t go.

3rd: Lunch at Papa's Pizza. I felt bad and wanted her to have somewhere to run around. After two tries going to the bathroom there, she finally went. I looked similar to what I looked like last night (plus a bit of make-up), so it was enevitable that I would run into someone I went to high school with. And of course, she was still beautiful, had very cute kids and is a dentist. Hmmm....

4th: A short trip home to get the shopping list and off to Freddies. Twice during our trip Sophie says she has to go pee pee. The first time, nothing. The second time, a healthy amount. One the way out of the bathroom, Sophie sees the play area. I try and explain to her that I won't be staying there and she doesn't seem to care. I fill out the necessary paperwork, don my ID bracelet, and continue shopping by myself with the racecar shopping cart (only one person asked if I was missing someone). About 5 minutes later, as I'm waiting for the man to wrap my salmon, I'm paged back to the play area. I expected Sophie to be crying, missing me. Well, actually she had peed her pants. RIGHT after having just gone to the bathroom. I cut my shopping short, realized that I had left her backpack in the car, and paid for our food. All with her walking like a cowboy.

5th: Get to the car, and realize---I must have left the backpack at home. She had to sit on a plastic bag in her carseat.

6th: Get home, no backpack. I realize that I must have left it at Papa's Pizza. Call them, "Yes, it's in our office", "Great, I'll be there in a bit to pick it up".

7th: Sophie asks for a pull-up, most likely to poop. I convice her ("you can have a BIG treat if you go in the potty") to try the toilet and read to her, all of this going on for about 30 minutes. She alternates squatting on the floor then ends up getting poop on the bathtub, floor and her socks before actually going a tiny bit on the toilet. She's very proud and we celebrate, she has her BIG treat. Then she says that more poop is coming out, retracts that statement and proceeds to pee all over the bathroom floor and laughs. I have lost my sense of humor by that point and just stick her in the bathtub. I really TRY not to seem angry and tell her that I"m "not cross", but she's smart enough to know that I'm lying. She was standing 12 inches away from the toilet when she went on the floor!!!
Aahh, the joys of potty training.

This is why I only want two children.

Lesley

New Baby

2006-12-21T06:36:00.000-08:00

Ultrasound Number 2. Looks like we are going to have a boy!
Daddy is going to be less outnumbered soon. Still thinking of names.

Halloween

2006-11-01T16:44:00.000-08:00

Before and after pictures of the Great Heist!!

Quite the stash of sweeties for the little sweetie.

Now we have to make sure she knows Halloween is only once a year and we don't get to go again tonight!!

2006-10-29T17:59:00.000-08:00

Which is the scariest pumpkin face?

Pumpkin Carving

2006-10-29T17:51:00.000-08:00

Scary carved pumpkins!

2006-10-29T13:00:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin patch

2006-10-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

Title says it all really. Watch out soon
for carved pumpkins!!

New Addition

2006-10-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

Lesley, Sophie and I are expecting the arrival of our second baby. Here is a picture of the first ultrasound where the baby looks like a peanut. Due date is 15th May.

2006-08-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

Sophie on a Carousel with Grandma King

2006-06-14T23:11:00.000-07:00

Sophie spent the weekend riding her bike, with a helmet which did not fit but she loved to wear!

2006-06-14T23:03:00.000-07:00

Gareth Atop Fort Rock

2006-06-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

Fort Rock. An amazing extinct volcanic structure in the middle of the Central Oregon Desert.

2006-06-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

Sophie had a great time playing at a fantastic playground. It was a bit chilly so she borrowed Gareth's hat.

2006-06-13T20:30:00.000-07:00

Sunriver

2006-06-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

We recently spent the weekend in Sunriver with Sam's old friend Gareth. Here are some pictures.

2nd birthday

2006-03-12T11:20:00.000-08:00

2006-02-11T11:46:00.000-08:00

Sophia being very cute at about 1 month old.

2006-02-11T11:43:00.000-08:00

Daddy and Sophie on one of our first days home.

2006-02-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

Baby Sophie and Lesley in the hospital Christmas Day 2003

New Venture

2006-02-11T08:15:00.000-08:00

I am working on a new venture with a friend here in Portland. I have been CAD drafting now for over a year and we are going to start up a business. We have a web page and lots of ideas. We need practice and customers but it could be a good thing. here is our website. www.wbcad.com

pictures of baby Sophia

2006-02-09T18:35:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of our baby Sophia. She is 2 and a bit now.

Lanyon Quoit

2006-02-09T16:45:00.000-08:00

This is an ancient burial chamber near where I grew up. It was tall enough for a man on horseback to walk under. They were originally covered with soil and looked only like a big mound.

Madron Church

2006-02-09T16:09:00.000-08:00

This is the church where Sam and his entire family dating back many generations was Christened. The church was built in the 1300's. REAL HISTORY.

Penzance

2006-02-09T16:08:00.000-08:00

This is a map showing the town in England where Sam grew up (Penzance).

My desktop picture.

2006-02-09T11:23:00.000-08:00

I love this picture of Sophie showing off her belly.

Wow, the new world of blogging

2006-02-09T08:55:00.000-08:00

I just set up our "blogspot" so watch out for new postings of pictures of us and all that fun stuff.