November: Science Center, Baptism, Awards, Portland, Snow

Two of my favorite people came to visit in November. Mom and Dad! Whoohoo! They came up for Emma's baptism but we had some fun while they were here - like visiting the Science Center. 

This beautiful girl made the choice to get baptized. She's such a good example to our whole family. Her school teacher calls her Sunshine because she always has a smile on her face. We are truly blessed to have her in our family.

We took a short weekend trip down to Portland with all of Jeremy's family. We planned a trip to the Portland Zoo that we still did obviously but there was freezing rain the night before. It was cold and turns out most of the animals don't want to come out when its that cold. We had some pretty good family pictures around this statue but I wanted to post this one because its the most realistic. Everyone doing there own thing while I'm ready to freak out and Jeremy's holding it together.

We also went to the Evergreen Air Museum in McMinnville.

I have no idea what this thing is but it was cool. Something to do with magnets:)

Emma got an award for AR. She's read books and taken more AR tests than anyone in her class. Well there's one boy she goes back forth with. It's good to be kept on your toes. She was supposed to dress like a pilgrim that day. 

A trip to the mountains to play in the snow. Grant lasted a couple hours before he got cold, so in the car he went. He was content to watch movies.

October: Birthday, Museum of Flight, Halloween

This sweet girl turned 8. She wanted an art cake and she splattered the cake herself and those other things are supposed to paintbrushes. 

Museum of Flight

Halloween. I made Emma's Elsa costume. I altered a pattern that I had, drafting sleeves and all, and added 10 foot cape. I kept trying to convince Emma I should cut it shorter but she wanted it long. 

Our whole crew trying to go trick or treating. We've got Elsa, Venelope Von Shweet, dinosaur, Buzz Lightyear, and Optimus Prime.

 Witch's Brew

Close up of Buzz. He wore this costume for like 6 weeks straight.

My cute Venelope.

I had to include a picture of Jeremy's 'smarty pants' costume. It was hilarious. This picture is weird though it makes him look like he has a giant head and short legs...which he doesn't

Catching Up: September

Playing catch up...again. The school fun run fundraiser. Madilyn did 18 laps in one hour.

Grant played in the mud while the girls ran.

Emma did 14 laps in an hour.

Garrett ran for two hours and I have no idea how many laps he ran.

We had a great trip to the Pacific Science Center. Jeremy and the kids had fun trying to touch the fountain without getting sprayed.

Giant table, which I think would look more giant with grownups on it.

Giant guitar with Grant in it.

Giant caterpillar with boys on it. Lots of fun giant stuff.

The boys were feeling left out with the girls going back to school so I took them to the zoo. Garrett made a river otter puppet out of a paper bag. When he showed it to this puffin if started following him around everywhere even in the underwater viewing area. It was hilarious. Garrett loved it.

Looking at these pictures makes me miss September. 

First Day Photos

I'm not ready for school to start. I could have used another month of summer vacation. Alas, its here.

Fifth grade

Second grader

I asked them to let me take a shot together and this is the pose they struck

Plumbers Assistants

A faucet needed replacing this weekend. Uncle Chris was on the job. He had to two assistants.

I don't know about you but nothing helps me change a faucet more than being sat on and having a flashlight shone in my eyes.

Shiner

Last week Grant got a cold, which means he got croup because he always gets croup when he gets a cold. What does that have to do with his black eye?

I was up all night with him and when I was carrying him down the stairs at 6 am I fell down. His head was over my shoulder and his eye hit first. 

Nice.

The Other Hills Are Alive Too

Once SoM was over we headed to the hills ourselves.Our first two free Saturdays were spent hiking. We are so blessed to live close to beautiful scenery. The first weekend we went to Naches Peak, where we hiked to the top of a ridge. The kids were so excited that they hiked to the top of a mountain.

All the kids made that face in the pictures. Too bright I guess.

Second weekend was Grand Park at Mt. Rainier. 

Grant kept complaining that his legs were tired. Hmmm....

Grand Park was amazing. We hiked 4 miles up to a high meadow that opens up to Mt. Rainier and 4 miles back down. It was gorgeous but a tough hike for the kids. 

We did see a bear here. I have to say I love seeing animals while hiking but the bear was a bit close for comfort. Close enough that we had to make sure to make noise for quite a while. The Lonely Goatherd came in handy.

Wonderful family time!

The Hills Are Alive...

Yes indeed our run of The Sound of Music is now over. It's always a happy sad time at the end of a show. Happy that we have our Saturdays back since we've rehearsed almost every one for the last 4 months, but sad because no more Sound of Music.

Jeremy asked me what my favorite song to sing was...The Sound of Music, why? Because it was easy and I didn't worry about the kids singing when they were supposed to and I was literally on top of the orchestra so it was nearly impossible for me to miss my entrance. Plus I've known the words by heart since I was 10. No brainer.

I love these kids (ok our Liesl wasn't exactly a kid but I loved her too), especially my little Marta and Brigitta.

Favorite song to sing with the kids - Do Re Mi

Least favortie - Lonely Goatherd. I thought this song was going to do me in by the end. Vocally it was the hardest but nothing I couldn't handle...if I was standing still. This one required so much movement and energy that keeping my breath was difficult.

Ok I put this up because it was my favorite costume. It's an authentic German...whatever its called. Some one in the cast had a neighbor give it to them.

I was always sad that I didn't get to see them sing this every night. I was off stage changing.

 This scene between Madilyn and I was one of the hardest and it was my own fault. I practiced this scene with Madilyn well before I had the part of Maria. The lines are kind of corny so I would always try to make her laugh when she practiced. Well then my part got changed and I had to do this serious scene with her. Guess what? I had a terrible time not giggling. I couldn't look her in the face the whole scene. I stared at her forehead. She was much more composed than me.

My sassy Brigitta.

And sweet Marta.

I loved this scene because both Mothers' Abbess were amazing and I loved listening to them sing.

Concert scene. Story on my little Emma. 3 of our 5 performances were evening performances that started at 7. By the time we got to this scene it was 9:30. Emma was always so tired by the end that she would stand kind of dazed and rub her eyes. Occasionally she would look at all the rest of us singing and remember she was supposed to sing. Poor little thing.

Being Maria was a bucket list thing for me and doing it with my two girls made it that much more special.