Getting Ready for Christmas

Happy Birthday Marc!

Yes, we had a birthday celebration today. How old you ask? Uh, I don't know if I can count that high! The favorite gift, for givers and receiver, was a set of organic chemistry "toys" used to create molecules. Marc and the kids spent the morning creating molecules and learning about science.

12th Birthday!

First, a Tuesday friends party including a trip to the Planetarium. Then, a Sunday family gathering. With Thanksgiving sandwiched in between, it was a week full of parties. It's hard to believe our girls is now a young woman!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween

Two action packed days, with Fall Festivals, Trunk-Or-Treating and Trick-Or-Treating excitement!

Milestones

He's 9 and with his final Wolf achievement out of the way, has earned his Wolf badge and joined the Bear den. We are all very proud of him!!

Back-to-School!

Well, it finally happened. Summer came to an end! The kids and I headed back to school last month, and we are into our busy routine once more....

3rd Grade

6th Grade

Seattle Vacation

We returned Friday from our 10 day vacation in the Seattle area. The highlight of (and reason for) our trip was Rick's wedding in Mount Vernon on July 25th. We also did/visited the following: Dash Point Beach, Fort Nisqually, Point Defiance Rose Garden, Pacific Science Center, the Calico Cupboard and Rick & Angela's new home in La Conner, a family BBQ at Mike & Marianne's, Grandma Carol & Grandpa Rod's home in PeEll WA, Grandpa Arthur's family and Aunt Denise, Josh and Ben in Tigard OR, The Space Needle, Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince at the IMAX, The EMP/SciFi Museum, Waterfront Shops (Ye Old Curiosity Shop, etc.), Ivar's for lunch and to feed the seagulls, an incredible Harbor Cruise and the Seattle Aquarium. It was the most fabulous vacation we've ever taken! Here are a few of our favorite pictures:

Our 3rd Grader

Can you believe he's in 3rd grade!!? The highlights of his final weeks of 2nd grade include an Authors' Tea where he shared his writings, and a perfect (straight O's for "Outstanding") report card!

Elementary Graduation

Congratulations to our 6th grader who will be entering middle school in August! Highlights of her last month of elementary school include a musical, a pool party, and the promotion ceremony. But perhaps the biggest highlight was her final report card. . . . straight A's!!

Do you recognize the Oompa Loompa?

Fishing Trip

On June 6th, Marc and the kids went fishing with the Cub Scouts.  They caught six fish, and we ate them for dinner that same night.

New Friends

Our Wonderful Easter

What's in a towel?  Well, when it comes from one of the kindest, spunkiest and most wonderful kindred spirits you've ever known, love is most definitely in it :-)

By far, our best part of Easter week was seeing our good friends, the Ritters, who were here Thursday into Friday.  We marvel to think of how much we owe to these wonderful people, who taught us and set an example for us (even when we were supposed to be doing that for them).  They are a part of many of our treasured memories, and the influence behind many of our current family traditions.  It was so good to see them and the only hard part was letting them go!

Our Easter was blessed with family time, good food, and focus on our Saviour.  We enjoyed our annual egg hunt, played games, had a steak dinner, and took a virtual field trip (via Google Earth) to Jerusalem where we watched an Easter movie.

Today is our final day of Spring Break, and as I look back on these few days off I do so with a smile :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Those silly Leprechauns made mischief at our house last night, and we woke to a very different atmosphere, complete with green milk!  They also left behind some of their Irish spirit, which prompted the kids and I to create a little silliness of our own:

Pinewood Derby

Cub Scout Pinewood Derby

Friday, February 20th, 2009

Another rite of passage:  Father and son spent two weeks creating a really fast and cool race car named "Muscle Racer."  Though novices, they did great!  Muscle Racer won 5th place overall, with the 4th place contender beating him by only 20 thousandths of a second (20 milliseconds)! 

New Beginnings

New Beginnings

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

We were completely blown away when we were invited to attend New Beginnings.  It's hard to believe that our baby girl will be in Young Women's in only nine months!

Our lovely young lady is pictured here all ready to attend the event, which was entitled "Light Keepers - Be Thou an Example."  It was a beautiful and inspirational program based on the 2009 Youth Theme.

Happy New Year!

I cannot believe it's already February.  If time flies faster the older you get, then I must be getting really old!

We had one of the best Christmases ever.  I think the key was two fold:  First, we didn't try to do too much, but focused on enjoying our time together.  Second, we were all healthy!

The New Year has brought us back to our busy routine, with the kids and I going to school together every day and Dad back to his hectic work schedule which includes regular travel.  It's a routine that keeps life hopping, but also keeps us all happy.

I am running an after-school Computer Club for 5th graders, and that has been a lot of fun.  Their excitement is contagious.  Our focus is on making movies to air on our closed circuit school broadcast station (UES TV). I've also begun serving as the Assistant Wolf Den Leader. That means that I get to learn about the Cub Scouts program :-)

Since the holidays, Marc has made trips to Florida and Colorado.  He also just got a new MacBook for work, and is excited to retire his old, decrepit Dell.

Our Cub Scout

I wanted to share this awesome photo of our man in uniform: