Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays!!! Here is a picture of Lucas working very hard last weekend on the gravy. We spent the weekend in California with Spencer, Sarah, and Sarah's parents. We had a great time resting, knitting, and eating a lot of great food (like the gravy on the left.)
Happy Holidays!!! Here is a picture of Lucas working very hard last weekend on the gravy. We spent the weekend in California with Spencer, Sarah, and Sarah's parents. We had a great time resting, knitting, and eating a lot of great food (like the gravy on the left.)
Since then we had a busy week back at home. I, Sabrina, spent the week as acting principal. My principal was out of town so I filled in. It kept me running, all day, but certainly solidified that I would like to be an administrator.
We are also spending much of our time at the Gallagher's as Sally's mom is not well. We started hospice last week and do not anticipate much that Mia will be alive much longer. It has been a very hard and sad time.
Today we moved Liam to his new home. We found an amazing place up the road towards Independence that is a natural horse boarding facility and it is perfect for us. He met his new herd today and will spend some time getting acclimated this week. Below is him eating breakfast with Jake this morning before we had to go. We were pretty sad to leave Jake after two years of them being together. But, we are hoping Carla will be moving out to meet us soon! :)



Hope you stay warm and have a good December. You can please be thinking and praying for us as we try to care for Mia and the rest of the Gallaghers.

A fall day!

We had a great fall day this past Saturday. It was so beautiful and we got to enjoy it to its fullness. Tonya and I lead a girls group with our fifth grade girls during the year that talks about manners, feelings, and body changes. Then one weekend a month we go out on a Saturday to do something fun together. Well, this past Saturday was our October date. We went to the pumpkin patch to find our perfect pumpkins and then back to our house to eat lunch and carve pumpkins. It was a great day!!!

Another pool party!

Last weekend was Sam's annual pool party. Lucas was busy being a woodsman so Sally and I took Sammy Sam for his big party. Some how I almost think he knew because he was up early bounding in our room, which is mostly unusual for a Saturday morning. We loaded him in the car and headed to the pool. Last year we showed up about 20 minutes late, which we learned this year is much better than being on time. When we were on time this year we had to wait in line. As some of you know, Sam is extremely vocal and waiting in line amidst many other dogs and outside a giant swimming pool was more than he could handle. His howling and yelping had some concerned, but we knew it was just typical Sam. Thankfully Sally stood in line while Sam and I paced the parking lot on the far side until it was our time to go in. Once in we could just let him go and then he was so happy! Plus Lucas brought home a truck full of fire wood-it was a great day for all of us!

In certainly more important news Andy has been recovering pretty well over the past couple of weeks. He is taking some classes at OSU and seems to be doing okay managing the course load and studying. His eyes are still not quite up to par so he is having to work pretty hard, but seems eager to be doing anything. What is super cool about the whole thing is that Rogue Brewery, a brewery in Newport, has become a major player in this whole story. Some of you know already that a Rogue delivery guy was the first on the scene of the accident and he climbed in the car and helped to clot the major head wound, helping to save ANdy's life until help could come. Well, since then word got back to Rogue about Andy and they have majorly come through. First they donated TWO kegs of beer to our Church's Greek Festival next weekend. And, then, this week they sent Andy TWO boxes full of stuff: a free sweatshirt, a T-shirt, a hat, a poster, a flag...amazing. I mean really, Andy should be sending them stuff (which is what we are in the process of doing now.) Anyway, I just think it is pretty amazing how the story has developed. Especially considering that our Uncle Robbie was one of the creators of Rogue Brewery...pretty cool huh?

Well, other than that, things are pretty normal. It is definitly fall here in Albany, especially in the morning...brrr... and the garden is reaching its end. Liam is growing in his winter coat and Sam looks like he is settling in for the winter. Hope you are doing great and enjoying the sunshine!

Watching our garden grow...

Watching our garden grow has definitely been a major highlight of the summer. Being that this was our first round at this house we had not expected overwhelming success-however, thus far we have a hearty row of corn, enormous tomato plants, some quality peppers, and the green beans and cucumbers even survived the jumanji like pumpkin plant that has grown over them. If you are looking for pumpkins this fall, please feel free to come by our FREE patch! :) I put picks of the garden and our house (and our handsome yet injured dog), for those interested in seeing, on the web album page for your enjoyment!

It's HOOOTTTTT

Well, we in the tin can (as Sally call's it) are really cookin'. As you can see from the photo, even Sam has his struggles with the new heat. However, we do have the process down to a science. We close the blinds and windows at around 10 and open them around 8:30 at night. We turn on all of the fans at full speed and if you don't mind sleeping in an airplane it really is no problem. We also have a slight bug problem; not a single screen fits the window frame it is in. So, once it is dusk we stop using all lights. We light a candle and carry it around room to room in order to eliminate bugs coming inside and it works!

Hope you are staying cool!

Look Look Sarah...

Just in case anyone actually reads this anymore I am actually posting! :) As you can see from the picture (note what is in Lucas's hand in the pic) the name of my blog is no longer legit as my name is technically Mrs. Alexander, but for now some things are not going to change.

Lucas and I are having a great summer. We spent a week in Virginia visiting family and having a second wedding reception, which was great. Then we spent a week resting in Maine. We stayed on Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park. Our Bed and Breakfast was on what they called the "Quietside of the Island" and indeed it was. We had a lovely time sleeping and hiking around-playing it very casual. Mostly we ate A LOT of amazing food. We did have some unique adventures while we were there...hitch hiking, climbing the face of a rock mountain...things like that-we had a great time.

Since returning home I have been spending time working on our garden-something I am sooo excited about. I was going to take a picture but I don't know where the camera is-moving does that, you know. But I can describe it, the corn is WAIST high, I have at least 20 green tomatoes, the pumpkin is ginormous and my peppers look spectacular...pretty great.

Not much else is scheduled for the summer besides hanging around and enjoying the time off. I am looking forward to a week in Santa Rosa in August with Spencer and Sarah, but otherwise just chillin' here. Check out the web album for some of my favorite wedding pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/misswood23

Hope you are all enjoying your summertime!!

Love Sabrina for the Alexanders!

SPRING at last!!!

It has finally come! We celebrated Pascha (Eastern Orthodox Easter) this weekend and now it feels like spring is finally here-sunshine, flowers, and quality allergies! :) It has been a long few months-consumed by 5th graders and Lebanon politics-but I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel...the endless hope of Spring!
With Pascha come it is now time to actually finalize the wedding plans. With opting for a small, simple wedding I think I have been fooled into thinking that there aren't things to do....So, it is time to make lists and start getting things ready! ) Crazy!
We have found a place to live here in Albany that we are very excited about and Lucas is moving there this week in anticipation. We have even set our honeymoon plans; Maine in June after school gets out. So, really, the big stuff is done! :)
Hope you are all doing well, and I promise to try and actually update this silly thing, and even add some pictures!