School is in session

The girls just completed their 1st entire week of school. They got a taste of it the week before-going only Thursday and Friday. Kacia has entered the 3rd grade, which amazes me! And my Rylin finally got to start kindergarten! She has desperately wanted to go since her 5th birthday last November. Getting 2 lunches made, 2 kids dressed, hair brushed, teeth brushed, and correct things in their backpacks has made our mornings a little more hectic, but hey, after that- it's just Lincoln and I for 6 hours. Day one, he asked by 10 o'clock if it was time to go get them, but he's adjusting quickly and I'm loving the one-on-one time!

Summer fun

So the kids and I visited the city aquatic center atleast twice a week during the summer months, sometimes more. It works really well for the ages of all my kids; Kacia has the pool to jump and do somersaults in and what not, Lincoln has the large play structure to explore, and Rylin could juggle between the two. With summer heat, water is practically a necessity, and this has been a great tool to get us out of the house and off the couch.

We also discovered this summer, that our kids can camp! This is huge to us, because this has not been something I have wanted to attempt if sleep was going to be an issue. But they all did great in the tent. In fact, if you ask Lincoln what his favorite part was, he'll say sleeping in his sleeping bag in the tent. We first spent a great and relaxing weekend with friends. We enjoyed the lake, fishing, and getting dirtier than I thought possible. Then we went back the next weekend with Kevin's extended family. I failed to charge the battery in my camera, but here is one picture of Linc doing his 2nd favorite thing- s'mores. I think I may see a tent trailer in our future....

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!