Roadtrip!

So with the assistance of my fabulous niece, the kids and I went on a roadtrip up north to see the family. It was a great week spent with people we love so much!

We made a stop in Oregon to see my precious friend Suzy and her boys!

This is me and my 3 kids conquering a hotel experience just the 4 of us. You should have seen us on our venture to the ice machine, I'm sure we were quite entertaining!

Reid loves to wave hi to the camera. Oh this boy is simply too cute!

S'mores at the Crabtrees after rootbeer floats? Why not, it's vacation right!

Me and my WA siblings at beautiful Alki

As you can see, we had fabulous weather!

Aquarium souvenirs...

It was so fun to share a day on Lake Meridian with my kids, a place so full of memories for me, 4th of July's, sunny Sunday afternoons with friends, etc. Plus, it was quite funny to see that Rylin was up for tubing before her typically fearless sister.

Mt. Rainier still takes my breath away! Nothing against Shasta, but this mountain seems to just fill the sky.

We went to a fun & interesting park, and we turned this stage into an entertaining game of charades and song performances, etc.

There's so much I loved about our trip and so much that is not captured in these pictures. I was a little skeptical about taking my kids (who typically hate car rides) on such a long trip without Kevin. But I'm so thankful he encouraged me to go, and that Allie was willing to come and be the one in the car passing snacks back and forth, helping on bathroom stops and so much more, and that all the family made time to simply hang out with us! We love you!

July Activities...

So with the heat that comes with July, we have been spending a lot of time at the lake and the aquatic center, but on the days that we don't find water, the girls still manage to create entertainment...

They love "surprising" me with decorating the patio table and then serving me lunch. They have me sit down, read their menus (which offer yogurt, string cheese, coffee & goldfish) and then wait on me. It's quite precious.

This day reminded me of when Bre and I would attempt to play superheroes with Tim.

The 3rd & 4th grade girls from church have enjoyed getting together and learning new skills this summer. There was a sewing project, paper crafting project, baking, and then we just did flip flop decorating and pedicures yesterday. It's also been a good tool to discuss our roles as young women. Why we cook for our families, what the Bible says about fashion and vanity, etc.

Kacia also learned how to crochet this summer, which meant I first had to learn in order to teach her. Thank goodness for youtube! This was her 1st project- a scarf for her doll.

We went on a wonderful hike up in Lassen. It was a fun day getting away from everything except one another. This was one of my favorite days!

This is the hot spring lake- it was a little stinky. But it was great to know our kids could all "hike" without being held and without whining!

Playing Catch Up...

Summer has been flying by!! Here's a few pictures from our CRAZY June. We went straight from the last week of school to summer camp for Kacia, to prepping for VBS, to Lincoln's bday and weekend in Sacramento, to VBS, Kevin went to Resolved while we finished VBS then had 2 sick kids, and then boom- June was over.

For VBS this year, our church was transformed into Nazareth. Lincoln was so excited when he got to come in and join the fun! He visited the Carpentry shop where he made a toy wooden sheep.

Everyone loves games- especially when it's hot and they involve water!

Kacia at the wool shop, where they made felted soap.

The dye shop- a favorite for my girls, tie-dye bags.

At the Sacramento Zoo, we were able to meet up with our friends the Gibbs, which was a real treat. I can't believe how much their boys are growing!

This is from the front of our hotel. We were able to walk across the bridge right to the ballpark, and we were also directly across from Old Town, which is always fun to tour.

We loved the Rivercats game, the junk food, and the fireworks. (As a bonus, I got to see my favorite A's player, Mark Ellis, who I knew would be getting traded soon, so it was fun to see him play one last time!)

We say goodbye to the 2's...

Well, it's official, my baby is 3! Lincoln turned 3 on the 17th, and we didn't really have a "party" in the normal terms because we had planned to take Lincoln on an overnight adventure to see the Sacramento Rivercats. However, the more we talked about going to watch a baseball game, the more Lincoln made it clear that he wanted to play in a baseball game. So we had pizza, opened presents (which was quite entertaining! - I have never seen a kid open presents so quickly and so passionately!), enjoyed cake, then walked across the street to the school and "played" a game of baseball. I use the word "play" loosely here since aside from the teenage cousins, the rest of the players were ages 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 & 2. But my boy had fun!

Lincoln loves life! He talks with such great expression and passion. He is enthusiastic about what he loves: baseball, Cars & family. Oh how he has me wrapped around his finger!

Mixed Emotions

So over the last 2 weeks Lincoln and I have been busy getting ready to transition his speech therapy from one organization to the local school district in preparation for his 3rd birthday. Then this week we got the results of his many tests/evaluations and I have to say I am mixed about the outcome. Lincoln does not at this time qualify to get speech therapy! My boy excelled on all of the tests, and she mentioned more than once "you have one very smart boy there!" (Yes, a proud mama is bragging a bit!) I am greatly relieved that he does not fall in the 7 percentile of speech, thus qualifying him for therapy, and yet, as a mom I know that he is still in need of some added assistance. I would like him to use more sentences to express himself then just 2 or 3 words. And I would love for him to be able to sing an entire song and not be intimidated by the amount of words back to back in a song. And yet, I am beyond thankful for the progress he has made in just one year. When Lincoln turned 2, there were 3 words that people could understand "mama, dada, ball". And now, one year later, my boy has a lot to say! Granted, it doesn't flow out of him the same way it did his sisters, but I no longer worry about the fact that it will all eventually come. Lincoln desperately wants to communicate and I am so very proud of him for all the hard work he has put in. Now, in regards to the decision to continue with speech therapy privately, Kevin and I have more talking to do, and much more praying....

Unbelievable!

So most of my readers know that my sweet Kacia broke her arm Christmas 09, and last year a plate & screws were put in so that the bones would grow straight. All of this happened during the only 2 month time period she did not have medical insurance. Due to this, she was denied our family coverage last year. However, we were hopeful that with the new healthcare reform, we could once again get her covered, since no child is supposed to be denied. We were just notified, that she has again been denied the same coverage that we have, but yet can receive her own plan, with significantly less coverage, and, this is the topper- for more than the rest of the family's cost combined! Who knew a broken arm could cause so much trouble? So now we have to weigh the costs. Do we just add-on to our existing hospital bills, pay for the reversal surgery, and then attempt to add her on, hoping that she can get normal coverage once the surgery is taken care of?Our do we bite the bullet, and pay a RIDICULOUS amount now so that she is "covered" each month? Ahhhhh, decisions, decisions and just one of the joys of self-employment!

Memorial Day

So knowing that summer is coming and Kevin is going to be stuck working, we decided to quickly escape with the kids while we could. Sunday we drove to San Francisco, where we met up with our friends Paul, Bethany & sweet Lucy. We explored Pier 39 then walked to Ghiradelli Square, which is always a must for Kevin when we go to SF. It was packed, but we had great weather, so that was a pretty good trade. Monday morning we enjoyed breakfast with Grandpa Burns, then headed to the A's game. Lincoln loves to watch the A's on TV and always cheers for his favorite player Coco Crisp. The game was no exception, any time Coco was up, Lincoln would start cheering, "Go Coco Crisp!". He'd foul it off, and Linc would say "Almost Coco, almost!" Well, Coco along with the A's didn't have a great game, but my kids had fun and ate way too much junk food! As we were driving away, Linc was talking about Coco, and his no hits. Then decided he needed to call him and give him a pep talk. He told us, "me call Coco" then with his imaginary phone (hand) he gave Coco a good talking to about base hits, and homeruns. It was priceless!

Lincoln was quite happy at Ghiradelli!

Kacia's hair is blowing in front of cute Lucy, but that's the only picture I got

Yes, we opted for the value deck, and we were up there pretty high! Kacia was quite funny booing against the "Stankees" as she called them, oh her sense of humor right now is too silly!

Cats & Dogs

Kacia's class performed the play Cats & Dogs, which all 2nd grade classes do each year. She is not a fan of being on stage (do you think she's a bit like her daddy?), and has only recently decided it's okay to sing at church, so as you can guess she was not too thrilled about being a part of the play. But she did a great job, participated in the singing and motions, and actually looked at the crowd instead of her neighbor the entire time (like last year!) Plus, she is one cute puppy!

(Alex remembered all the lines and songs from when his class performed it!)

Kacia with one of her closest friends. They've been in the same class since kindergarten, and we are keeping our fingers crossed for 3rd grade!

Kacia with her very sweet and awesome teacher!

My Pixie

(I was quite proud of my sweet action shot with my very ordinary camera!)

Rylin and her team, the Pixies, had a great spring soccer season! The highlight of the season for her was most definitely when she scored a goal on my birthday! She had been telling me that she would score for my gift, but we were all totally shocked when she actually did! I'm quite certain no one was more surprised than her. The enormous smile that never left her face was proof that she was positively ecstatic, which brings great joy to a mom. She truly loves playing, always has a great attitude on the field, and has already asked me multiple times when practice will start for the fall season.

[As you can tell from this warm-up drill shot, my daughter is on the petite side... Who'd have guessed the smallest pixie would belong to me:) ]

Rylin's Surprise

So for those of you who know my dear, sweet, spunky Rylin, you know that she is in a hurry to be just like her sister! Due to this, she has been telling everyone about her "loose teeth" for quite awhile. Initially, none of the teeth felt loose to me, or anyone else that she convinced to stick their fingers in her mouth, but gradually one began to loosen. She has been desperately wanting that tooth to come out, but it has never really felt all that terribly loose to be honest. However, on Monday afternoon, when Kevin and I arrived home from our weekend trip, our little 5 year old stood in the doorway greeting us, with the biggest smile ever! And there it was- an open space where once that loose tooth wiggled! She laughed and giggled in Rylin style as I grabbed her and hugged her and whispered not to show her daddy. Kevin hated it when Kacia lost her first few teeth, and I knew he wasn't ready for Rylin's precious little smile to start changing as the signs of growing up become very evident! But apparently when you attempt to open a sports top water bottle with a fairly loose tooth, the tooth can sometimes surprise everyone and just pop right out!

Weekend Getaway

So a couple of weekends ago Kevin and I had the opportunity to join some friends and get away. If you know Kevin, you know that WHENEVER a chance arrives for a break- he's all over it! So he & the other 2 guys planned the whole thing and the ladies just enjoyed the ride. It was the most relaxing trip we've had in a long time! We had never been to Napa/Sonoma/Windsor/Healdsburg before, and I had really no expectations. It was beautiful!! The rolling hills, the symmetry of the fields, the variations of the vines, etc all made up for an absolutely beautiful scenic tour. Matt, who is from there and once owned a wine tour company, arranged for us to borrow the open jeep/range rover thing and experience the area in style, (albeit a rather chilly style!) I failed to get more than a couple pictures, but they couldn't really capture the beauty anyways. We enjoyed long, relaxing meals (at restaurants that had all been previously picked out by the husbands), explored new, quaint towns with fun town squares, and visited a great spa. All of this combined with awesome time with my husband and our dear friends equalled a fabulous weekend!