WE'RE WINNERS!!

We're winners. Not the "everyone's important and you matter in this world" kind of winner. Real winners. Big winners.

March 6 - I got a phone call from our orthodontist's office, Senestraro Family Orthodontics. Sarah was on the other end of the line and asked if I was sitting down. The Wilsonville SFO office has walked along with us for 2 1/2 years of an amazing #BracesOnFaces journey with four (and counting) Ws as patients and sometimes she's had good news for me in the payment department. I assumed there was some unexpected money coming our way, but then she asked if I was alone. Weird question, but I told her I was. 

Sarah then proceeded to tell me our family's name had been drawn in a particular giveaway. They wanted to make a big deal about presenting the prize, so she and I coordinated schedules to make the presentation coincide with our regular appointments and the end of their lunch break. The important thing was that I couldn't say anything about it because it needed to be a surprise for the kids. Deal. 

March 12 - The little Ws all had appointments, but Silas was coming from work and the rest of us from home. Devon, Naomi, and Tyler all put their SFO shirts without any prompting, as they like earning tokens when they show up to their appointment with those shirts on. I texted Silas to see if he wanted me to bring his shirt. He declined, not as motivated by tokens as the sibs. Knowing what was about to go down, I thought it would be good for all four of them to be wearing their SFO shirts. So I did what any good mom would do under the circumstances. Guilt trip! 

B - You'll be the only one. The outcast. The isolated little W. Just sayin'. 😃

S - Ok, whatever. I'll do it. For the picture I know you want to take. 😉

B - Peer pressure for the win! 😂

Oh, dude, if only you knew what picture was coming!! One phone call with Rita and a few texts with Carmen later, we arrived in the parking lot early enough to beat Silas there so he could get his shirt. We couldn't walk in until all the little Ws had arrived and all the staff was ready for us, so I had to stall a bit. We killed some time hanging in the parking lot, then I pretended I needed the picture Silas thought I wanted. 

Devon told me later he thought it was weird that I wasn't being picky about how the picture turned out. Ha!! We eventually walked through the door and were greeted by the entire staff cheering and throwing confetti. Then the words were spoken. The magical words for winners.

"You're going to Disneyland!!"

The little Ws were stunned. Completely stunned. It was perfect!

SFO gives away one trip to Disneyland each year, drawing a winner's name from all the patients who have referred future patients to their office. And by "gives away" I mean they plan on doing it each year, but it's a new thing and we're the first winners ever.

The whole thing was professionally recorded and many pictures were taken with all the staff, but I asked for a quick shot on my phone before everyone started cleaning up the mess and heading back to work. We took one with Seth ...

... and one of just me and the little Ws. It would have been cool to have Tim there, as he had no idea what was happening and would have been caught up in the surprise, but he's never needed to come before and it would have been highly suspicious to ask him to take time off work to meet us.

I sent him the picture above as my way of telling him, along with a note that I'd been keeping the surprise under wraps for about a week.

His response? Stunned. Just like his kids.

"WHAT!!! WHOA! WOW!"

Silas and I are the only Ws who've been to Disneyland. It's been a couple years since he went and 26 since I've gone. This will be the first trip for Tim, Devon, Naomi, and Tyler. It will also be the first time Devon, Naomi, and Tyler have been in a plane. Needless to say, everyone's super excited!

So what exactly did the prize include? We won a trip for four that includes airfare, three nights at the Disneyland Hotel, ground transportation to and from the park, and 2 day park hopper passes. There are obviously more than four people in our family, but we'll just cover the extra out of our own pocket.

The office knows our whole story - choosing to save up instead of go into debt, the part-time job I had with Pampered Chef for over a year to earn #BracesOnFaces money, the pie charts we color in to track how much is saved for each set - and asked if I'd be willing to tell that story on camera. Sure! We had a quick chat to clarify expectations ...

... then the camera rolled and I talked.

Christy and I were chatting later about when the Ws will go since we need a little time to get all our ducks in a row and homeschooling gives us the freedom to go outside of summer. I mentioned that the park may not even stay open because of COVID-19. A few minutes later she walked back out of her office and said Disneyland had just announced they were closing. How's that for timing? It's totally fine. We're in no rush. The pandemic will keep us away this spring, summer is the busy season and Silas probably couldn't get time off anyway, so autumn is looking like our best time to head south.

Can you folks even believe this? The whole #BracesOnFaces experience has been incredible! The staff is so good with the kids and their braces, as well as really supportive and encouraging with me about all the money stuff. My timeline was one kid per year and we had all four in braces two years and three months months after I started earning money for it. And now we're going on a family vacation just because we tell people how awesome SFO is!!

NOTE: I typed this post up on 3/12,  which means spring is now over, Disneyland's starting a phased reopening in July, and our whole family is now in braces because Tim and I both got ours since finding out about winning. I shared the post today because SFO just did a video announcement that we won the prize.

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for all the midwives I had while pregnant with and giving birth to the little Ws - in Ashland and Portland, who stayed with me when everything went smoothly at home and who came along when I ended up being transported to a hospital, ones I chose and ones who jumped in when the one I chose needed to step away to battle cancer, when they politely advocated for me when they knew what I needed and when they kindly reprimanded me when they knew what the baby needed, who made sure I had plenty of help when Tim left town soon after a birth and brought me birthday flowers when my day was consumed with having a child, who (eventually) laughed with me when I said I had time to make it to a wedding one little W was in about two hours after another little W was born and knew my "and" meant I wanted to know the baby's color along with the gender when I was blocked from view by a surgery screen. What's something that you're thankful for?

A NEW LICENSE

As part of his career change, Tim's been working on becoming a crane operator. As of this week, he's now licensed to operate one of fifteen different types of cranes. So awesome! He's clearly a rookie who will still be supervised as he gets hours in the seat, and he'd like to get more crane licenses over time, but earning the first one is a big deal. I'm super proud of him!

MARY'S PEAK & TIME WITH FRIENDS

Last Sunday I wanted to go on a family hike to celebrate my birthday, but not just any hike. I wanted it to be one we hadn't done before and I wanted a view at the summit. I picked a place, but the weather wasn't ideal for taking in the view and I decided to bump the hike to this Sunday. Then I realized today was going to be Father's Day, so I just canceled and figured we'd hike later without tying it to a celebration. 

As it turned out, the kids acknowledgement of Father's Day didn't involve anything time-consuming. I was tired and wanted to spend the day reading library books in bed, but I knew I'd be glad we'd gone if we opted for the hike. So we made a somewhat spontaneous to head out to Mary's Peak, which is the highest point in the Coast Range, after streaming church this morning. 

There are several trails to choose from, so we climbed about 1,700 feet over four miles. That's just a little higher than when Silas and I hiked Saddle Mountain, which was 1,600 feet in two and a half miles, but it was easier because the incline is spread over a much longer distance.  

It was beautiful! We saw tons of pretty flowers, including a phenomenal amount of wild iris along the road as we drove up to the trailhead. There's supposed to be a 360 degree view from the summit, but we knew it wouldn't be perfect because the skies weren't totally clear. They were clear enough to make the trek worthwhile, though. 

I told the fam I wanted two pictures, one at the start and another at the summit. So, here's the first shot.

Just one of the many wild iris along the way. This flower is special to me and it was pretty awesome to see so many today.

The trees in this picture give you an idea of how steep the mountain is. Lots of switchbacks keep it from being treacherous to climb. In fact, I passed some people on my descent who were heading up the trail on bikes. Impressive!

Other than the wild iris, I don't know what the other flowers are. However, this looks similar to the bleeding heart in our back yard. I suspect it's a wild version.

We hiked through the woods nearly the whole way up, but got this little sneak peak of the view as we got closer to the summit.

Although it would have been awesome to have clear views in all directions, this Brookings girl had to chuckle seeing fog roll in from the coastal side. Par for the course. No ocean view today, so we'll just have to climb again another time.

Turning a little more to the south, the skies started to clear and we could see other mountains below us.

So beautiful!

The summit family picture, with the Willamette Valley stretched out behind us. Despite the haze, we were able to spot some notable peaks in the distance.

One more shot of the valley, but without Ws blocking the view.

I asked Silas to snap a quick picture of Tim and I as we started to descend.

We didn't get far down the trail before everyone else decided it would be fun to run. I, on the other hand, enjoy having functioning kneecaps. So I walked. Tim did check to see if I preferred having him stick with me, but I sent him off with the little Ws. Then I enjoyed some quiet solitude surrounded by tall trees, lots of greenery, and the smell of dirt. 

Such a fantastic hike! The opportunity to go as an entire family is rare, and will become even more challenging whenever our church's doors open again because Tim and Silas won't have the same days off. So I'm really glad we went.

That would have been enough to qualify as a good day, but the fun didn't end there.

Tim offered to get sandwiches for everyone at Subway on the drive home. While he went in to order, I shot a high school classmate a text saying we were in her town. She asked us to come over, so we got to spend a couple hours with her family. We'd all hung out during our class reunion last summer, so it was super fun to see them again.

I wanted a group shot of both families, but asked Tim to get one of Julie and I in case we couldn't round up all the kids. Full disclosure? I didn't realize until later that I had a massive chunk of food stuck in my braces. Good gravy.

Thankfully, we were able to get the whole crew together before the Ws loaded up to head home.

And that was that. What an awesome day this turned out to be!

FATHER'S DAY - 2020

Just a man and his four kids striking a pose on Father's Day. Tim's an imperfect parent, of course, but he takes his role as a dad seriously, always trying to do the right thing, and the little Ws love him.

21 YEARS OF MARRIAGE

Today is our 21st anniversary, so we headed out for dinner with a gift certificate put toward the cause. But first, a picture. 

Then a picnic at Mike's Drive-In. I ate a burger without any problems last week, but I couldn't bite into this one without my teeth throbbing. This was a bit of a crisis because I was ravenous. Sometimes love looks like a husband walking back into a restaurant to get a plastic knife for his wife to cut her burger with.

I've never cut a burger into baby bites before, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Thankfully, our ice cream options didn't hurt our teeth at all. Bonus points for the fact that taking straw pictures hides the fact that I have a ridiculously awkward smile these days, which meant we could delete all the horrible pictures we took before this one.

I'm thankful for a simple celebration - perfect weather for an outdoor dinner, food we didn't have to cook. time to chat about life and marriage on the drive and through the meal, and a walk through the neighborhood, including a stop to visit with a new neighbor and his friend.

BRACES ON FACES - 6TH SET

I first set out to earn money to pay for #BracesOnFaces for the kids with a goal of four sets in four years. In a process that bordered on miraculous, we paid for the sixth set in two years, nine months, and thirteen days. That's right, Tim got braces just nineteen days after I got mine.

And, yes, that means all 6 Ws have braces on at the same time. This was a grand finale that I never could have anticipated. So amazing!! Needless to say, this milestone needed to be documented. The other Ws met up at Senestraro Family Orthodontics near the end of Tim's appointment so that we could all get a group picture together.

Done. Then I realized we'd forgotten to hold all the pie charts we'd brought. Oops. Everyone cooperated so we could take another shot with charts in hand.

That picture means so much to me! It represents risk and goals, hard work and responsible money management, words of encouragement and practical support, and so many kind people who shared my excitement along the way. As always, I'm excited, humbled, and so incredibly grateful for how this has all played out.

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for electricity. What's something that you're thankful for?

THE COVID CUT

I've been feeling really frumpy for quite a while now and this long, heavy, shaggy mop of hair that hasn't been cut in eight months is part of the problem. And, yes, that clump in the front is straight. Curly hair is never equally curly across the head, but my straightest section just happens to be front and center. Because, of course.

The gal who cut my hair for several years moved out of state a while back and the gal I started seeing in October is booked until mid-August, due to the backlog of clients whose appointments had to be canceled over the last three months.

I'm pretty low maintenance when it comes to appearance, but I hate my hair right now. Hate it. A lot. I don't remember the last time I had a good hair day, so I decided that desperate times call for desperate measures. I've had countless bad haircuts from professionals who probably do well with straight hair, but just don't understand that curly hair doesn't work the same. A covid cut may not turn out well, but at least it's a bad haircut I wouldn't have wasted money on.

I've done funky hair on the kids for years and years, as well as shaped their hair for regular styles lots of times, but I've never taken scissors to my own hair. Naomi's hair cutting experience is limited to running the clippers on the lower part of her head these days and trimming the top when the mood strikes. So this was risky. And I hate risk. But I also hate my hair. So Naomi and I each grabbed some scissors.

Lost a bunch of length and added some layers, which was progress, but it still needed to be worked on a bit.

Took a picture from the front the next day, then tackled it again to try and lose the long mushroom look.

A little more shaping, along with my awkward braces smile.

Showered, trimmed up the back where it was too pointy, had Naomi get the parts I couldn't reach, then realized I was back to an unattractive mushroom shape. A shorter mushroom than before, but a mushroom nonetheless.

Took one more shot hours later, after it was all dry. Yep, it's a mushroom. Haven't had one of those cuts in 25 years, but at least this time around I didn't pay a professional for it, knew it needed some layers, and didn't brush it out. But it's still a mushroom. Or a covid bob, if you want to make a bad haircut sound classier.

The good news is I have some bounce back in my hair now since it's not so weighted down. And even though I don't love my hair at the moment, at least its something different. Plus, I took a risk, which I think I should get a gold star for, even though the results weren't spectacular.

I promised a friend I wouldn't trim it again, as I'm going to be bald by this time next week if I keep picking up the scissors. Now I just need to patiently wait to get back in to someone with the skills to make my hair look like it did in these pictures from 5-6 years ago.

I loved that cut! Until I can get it again, I'll be over here sporting my mushroom-ish covid bob. Try not to be jealous.

MY BIRTHDAY - 2020

My birthday started off with Naomi making me an omelette. I'd recently mentioned that I love omelettes, but never make them because I'm incompetent. I just stick with egg and veggie scrambles instead. She'd never made one before, but decided her gift to me would be an omelette for breakfast. She did a great job!

My birthday celebration ended a day later with Garlic Jim's pizza, my dinner of choice. Many years ago we lived just down the road from a brand new Garlic Jim's, but I haven't eaten their pizza in a really long time. There's only one location in Oregon now (others in CA, WA, and TX), so I drove a one hour round trip to pick some up. So excited!

Nutty chipotle and gourmet Hawaiian. My two favorites of theirs. So stinkin' delicious!

There were also some gifts to open between those two birthday meals and I've continued to receive all sorts of happy mail this month. The picture below was taken a few days ago and since then I've removed all the cards from the wall because they kept falling down, but it's been a lot of fun to keep finding things in my mailbox!