Pomerleau Family Blog: March 2020

Normally I write about various activities or events in several blogs but February went by so fast that I thought I would write about this month's activities (minus Valentine's day which I have already written about) just in one blog. We had a lot of basketball games in February for the kids and we saw the Women Ducks play in Eugene and we went skiing again towards the end of February.

We started off the beginning of February with the Super Bowl. We had a pretty quiet Super Bowl with the Mowery's. I made some yummy chicken wings in our Ninja Foodie and we had snacks and pizza for dinner. The kids played and Brooke and I scrapbooked and watched the game. Sean went over to Ben's house to watch the Super Bowl. He had several good friends who were 49er fans. I rooted hard against the 49ers (being a true Seahawk fan) and was happy to watch Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs come back and win the game in the 4th quarter. The game was close and fun to watch too. It was a fun Super Bowl!

Eating some wings

Yummy buffalo chicken wings

Brandon was upset because he lost his school bet everyone else was happy!

Final score-Chiefs 31 and 49ers 21!

Olivia and Addie had a good time!

The next weekend we started off with watching Brandon play basketball and then we had to hustle to get to his Cub Scout Pinewood Derby race. Sean and Olivia missed the race because they had to go to Olivia's basketball game. After the game and the race, we were heading to Eugene to spend the night and to watch the Oregon Ducks women play a basketball game the next day. So we had a busy weekend!

Olivia made 2 baskets at her basketball game

Brandon made his car almost entirely by himself and designed it by himself this year. He did more of a slim car look and painted it and put some Fortnite stickers on it. The Pinewood Derby race was a lot of fun. Everyone in our den showed up and there were snacks and pizza. Brandon had fun watching his car race against his friends. Unfortunately, Brandon's car had a bit of a wobbly wheel so finished more in the middle to lower end of the pack. He was disappointed about his car's performance but still had fun with his friends. Also 2 members of our den got 1st and 2nd place-Nathan our newest Scout got 1st place and Ishan got 2nd.

Looking at all the cars with his friends

Brandon's was the one in the middle with the Fortnite stickers that was painted orange and green

Looking at the cars with Colton

The kids enjoying some snacks before the race

Excited to race

Watching the race

Watching his car go!

And they are off! Brandon's car is in lane 3

Re-enacting his car race

All the cars

Bear den!

We were excited to have a 1st and 2nd place finisher!

Brandon's car this year

We headed to Eugene in the early afternoon and got there around 4:00 PM. We hung out for a bit at Grammy and Papa's house and then headed to go get Pizza nearby for dinner. We had a good dinner and came back and hung around the house watching some shows. We got up the next day and took the dogs on a walk and then headed to the game which was at 2:00 PM. We left early so we could find parking and have time to walk around the stadium. The Women Ducks team was super good this year and only had 2 losses towards the beginning of the year. They had arguably one of the greatest women players of all time Sabrina Ionescu who is a senior at University of Oregon. We were excited to see her play before graduating and heading off to the WNBA. The Ducks were also ranked 4th in the nation too and have their eyes on a NCAA title this year. The Ducks played Arizona who was ranked 15th and ended up crushing them 79 to 48. Sabrina had a great game and it was really fun to watch the game in Matthew Knight Arena (I had never been there before). After the game we got Burrito Boys (One of Sean and my favorites) and then packed up and headed home. It was a really fun but busy weekend.

All dressed to cheer the Ducks on!

Sean and I in front of Puddles the duck

Family shot

Brandon and I took a selfie while watching the game

The arena was amazing

The Ducks killed Arizona

On February 13th Olivia got to present her Star of the Week poster to her classmates. I was lucky enough to be able to come watch her presentation. She did great! She worked on her poster all by herself and picked out her photos. Her poster said that she is 49" tall, 52 lbs, her eyes are blue and her hair is red. Her favorite foods are pasta, ice-cream, candy, watermelon, and string cheese. When she grows up she wants to be a doctor. Things she likes: soccer, gymnastics, basketball, going on trips, my family and Lulu. Things she doesn't like: bugs, going to bed before my brother, watching my brother's sports. If she were to have 3 wishes it would be to have a cat, to go to Disney World, and to go to Paris. She had cute pictures of her in Los Gatos, with Lulu, doing gymnastics at the Mini Olympics, the family with Mickey at Disneyland, and going on the Splash Mountain ride in Disneyland. She got to share all of the items that were in her bag and was quite the hit with the Yoshi that Sean won out of the claw machine the week before in Eugene.

Presenting her poster

Olivia's poster

Showing the items in her bag

Valentine's day weekend was a 4 day weekend for the kids as they had that Friday of Valentine's Day off and then the following Monday was President's Day. The kids had basketball games and Brandon had a birthday party on Saturday but we decided to go skiing up at Ski Bowl on Sunday since the kids had a day to recover after skiing. On Saturday we watched both kids basketball games and they both did really well. It has been fun to watch their progress. Brandon's team was in the middle in the league they would win some games and then lose some games. His coaches were really good about making sure that everyone got to play and try different positions. Olivia's basketball games were also going really well. There were 4 girls and 4 boys on her team. All the girls were from her soccer team and included Astrid, Teodora, and Avery. The 4 boys all played fall soccer together as well and were from Beaverton schools. Olivia's league didn't keep score and didn't have refs (they had coaches on the court helping the players learn). It was fun watching their team progress as well.

Olivia dribbling down the court

Dribbling to the basket

Guarding

Taking the ball down the court

About to shoot

Brandon calling for the ball

Tip off!

On Sunday we got up at around 8:00 AM and was on the road by 9:00 AM for the mountain. We had Brendan coming to check on Lulu and to walk her in the early afternoon as we were having to leave her alone most of the day. We got to the mountain and it was more busy than Hoodoo probably since it was President's Day weekend. Luckily Brandon's lessons were at 3:00 PM so we had plenty of time. The line to the rentals was super long but finally the kids got their skis and we were skiing by 12:00 PM. We had tickets from the 11:00 AM-7:00 PM slot so at least we could stay as late as we wanted. The bunny hill was much smaller but steeper at Ski Bowl and had a conveyor belt instead of a lift to get up. The kids practiced on the bunny hill for a while. I went off and checked off the green runs which I found to be relatively tame. Then we ate lunch and Brandon had his lesson. Olivia really took off her second time skiing and wanted to go on the green runs with Sean and I during Brandon's lessons. She struggled a bit (mostly with her skis flying off easily) the first run but the second run she was doing great and barely fell. She was easily turning and linking her turns together. She already was way faster than me! We picked Brandon up at 5:00 PM he had fun with his lesson but didn't learn a ton and we all went over to the green run. Ski Bowl has great night skiing that is well lit. Brandon did pretty good on the green run except he couldn't get his skis on twice when he fell. He got frustrated by that but we eventually made it down the mountain. After that Olivia and Sean went down another green run and Brandon and I went back over to the Bunny slopes and then turned in his equipment and waited for Olivia and Sean. We left Ski Bowl by 6:30 PM and stopped at the Skyway Bar & Grill on the way home at Zig Zag and had an amazing dinner of yummy BBQ food. We arrive home tired but happy by 9:30 and Lulu was so excited to see us! A very fun second time skiing!

Excited for his second time skiing

It snowed a ton the day before

The bunny hill conveyor belt

Going up the conveyor belt

Brandon enjoying himself

Selfie with Brandon!

Olivia and Sean enjoying skiing

Olivia and Sean having fun going down a green run

Olivia's first green run!

Skiing like a pro!

Turning great and staying with Daddy

Brandon skiing in the heavy snow

Practicing during ski school

Brandon's first green run!

Ski Bowl is beautiful at night

Eating our awesome dinner-we got fried pickles!

The following week Olivia got to get her hair cut and straightened and some how I contracted pink eye (or an eye infection in one of my eyes). We went to the Portland Auto show's charity night in the convention center. It was really fun as there were appetizers everywhere and an open bar. I had several yummy Gin and Tonics and we met up with Sean's friend Gilbert and his wife. It was nice hanging out with adults and I found a cool Mercedes camper car that would be my next perfect work car. Unfortunately, Olivia developed a high fever that night and had to stay home the next day with me. We did have a fun picnic outside together. I kept her home with me Friday morning to let her sleep in and make sure she still didn't have a fever (which she didn't) and she then went to school for the afternoon. We had Brandon's Cub Scouts over for the Bear Claw knife safety requirement. The boys got to see all of Sean's company's cool knives and tools and then got to carve soap with their pocket knives. We only had 1 injury to Brandon who was not listening and got a little cut on his hand.

Looking so old with long straight hair

Olivia and her bestie Lulu

Dream work van

Built in desk in dream van

Eating a picnic outside

A fun picnic with Lulu and Blaire

Bear Claw Den activity

The third weekend in February Sean's parents came up for the weekend. Unfortunately, Sean fainted on Friday night and lost consciousness and I had to take him to the ER as he hit his head on the concrete in the garage and had a huge gash on his head. They did heart tests and determined he was ok and that he just fainted due to locking his knees likely. We did not get home until almost 2:00 AM and then had to be up by 8:00 AM for Brandon's 9:00 AM basketball game. Sean's accident was very scary but we were impressed with 911 and how they sent an ambulance and police car to us very quickly even though we called them off when he regained consciousness. Sean's parents came to watch the kids play basketball and unfortunately both kids had sluggish games. Brandon's whole team didn't play very well and they played a fairly hard team and lost. Olivia's team played a team made up entirely of boys who were super aggressive and fouling a ton so it wasn't fun watching her game either. I had to take Brandon to his best friends Colton and Riley's birthday party at Bull Winkles and then Olivia, Pam, and I went to our winery-Sokol Blosser for some wine tasting which was fun. We just hung around the house the rest of the weekend and rested. Olivia and I did finish cleaning and organizing her play room to (which was much needed after Christmas).

Head injury

Like mother like son....

Grammy and Papa came to watch Brandon play

Shooting and getting fouled

Clean and organized play room

The Sunday after Sean's head injury I had been researching upcoming litters with our breeder that gave us Lulu-Northstar Labradoodles. She did such an awesome job giving us Lulu that I knew I wanted another puppy from her. I just had to convince Sean. The breeder unfortunately has mestastic breast cancer that just came back last summer and this was going to be her last possible litter. The Mama Josie had a large litter of 6 pups so there was 1 spot available. I was able to convince Sean and jump on it! Lulu is very social with other labradoodles and I thought she would benefit a lot by having a little brother or sister to play with. The pups were born Super Bowl weekend in the early morning of February 1st. She had 2 girls and 4 boy pups and their colors varied from chocolate, chocolate and white, to white and brown. Mama Josie was dark brown and Papa Bailey was a parti white and brown. Both the parents are husky miniatures which mean the pup may be a bit bigger than Lulu. We are excited to get our last family member and become a family of 6!

Photos from the breeder

Lulu belle with her hair in a pony

Such a sweet face

Weekly photo updates

Screen shot of the pups playing on the puppy cam

Lulu and I enjoying some sunshine on our walk

On Friday February 28th the kids had a family school dance at their school called the Enchanted Family Knight. This replaced the Father-daughter dance and the Mother-son dance this year. The kids got to dress up if they wanted to and got to dance, have cotton candy, and there were a lot of fun activities. Brandon spent most of his time outside playing with his friends but Olivia enjoyed actually dancing. It was a fun night and my ears were ringing afterwards-a sign of getting older and not being able to handle loud music!

Dance floor fun!

Dancing with Addie

Sean and Olivia after the dance

The last day of February was a Saturday. We had a leap year this year. Brandon had his last basketball game of the season. He played really well and made 2 free throws. His team crushed the other team. He learned so much from his coach. Olivia had a basketball game as well that Sean took her to as my mom came up for the weekend and we were meeting my sister Rachel and her family at the zoo to celebrate Jasper's 4th birthday. It was rainy and cold but it managed to not rain that much while we were at the zoo. The kids had a lot of fun going around the zoo and seeing all the animals. We warmed up in the inside exhibits as needed. After the zoo fun we headed home and Jasper got to open up his presents. We gave him a portable soccer net and a sticker book that he could play with. We got pizza and made a salad and then had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to Jasper. It was a very fun day with family! My mom stayed the night as her and my Dad were staying at a hotel the next evening as they were leaving Monday morning to go to Hawaii. We got to watch Pumpkin while they were gone for 9 days.