Born To Run

Today was Jacob's elemantry school walk-a-thon!

He was so cute! He ran with all his might. He was weaving around people, and had darling arm pumps. It is in his blood to run. He looked so natural.

He was so excited to show me how many laps he had run. Every time he lapped pass me he was so proud to show me he had earned another punch. They ran for one hour and Jacob lapped 23 times. He was so disapointed he had to stop. He would have run for another hour if they let him.

I am so proud of you Jacob, you worked so hard and did your best. --emily

Walking Field Trip

I joined Jacob today for a walking field trip. It was a scavenger hunt type of field trip. We all walked through town and the kids looked for things to mark off their list, like a stop sign or a open store sign. It was fun to participate with Jacob and his class. Jacob was happy to have me there.--emily

Birthday Week

Jacob's birthday breakfast request was pop-tarts and milk.

Jacob's kindergarten class has a cool tradition. On each kid's special day, because not everyone celebrates birthdays, they get to share their "me person". It tells all about his favorite things and his likes and dis-likes. He was deathly shy sitting in front of the class talking about himself.

In Jacob's class there are a few kids with allergies, so they have a strict no food rule. Jacob picked pencils as his gift for his classmates. Here he is handing the pencils out to all his friends as they line up to leave for the day.

Jacob wanted home-made pizza for his Birthday dinner. The boys had so much fun helping with dinner prep.

Jacob's dessert request was cake pops.

On Saturday we had a kid party with a few of Jacob's friends from the neighborhood. Here they are playing a chopstick-dice-candy game. It was so fun to watch.

We also had a bug hunt. I hide plastic bugs around the house and the kids filled their jars.

And a pinata of course. I think Kelly likes the pinata more than the kids at times. He is such a cute pinata leader.

I love it when the kids gather in so close that no one else can see. What a darling group of kids! It was a good group. They were all so nice and kind to each other. It was a successfully fun party!

For dessert I made, dirt and worms and worm cake pops. Yummy . . .

Happy Birthday big boy! -- Love, Mom

Super Star

Jacob came home from school one day with this super-star sticker on his shirt. I had asked him about his day at school. I inquired about his sticker and his lips were sealed. So I did some mom detective work to find out that in his class they have a super-star of the day and Jacob's name was chosen. What that all entails, I may not know 'till Andrew is a kindergartner. --emily

Pre-School

Andrew has started pre-school and is so excited to be doing his own thing. Here he is with his teacher and friend Jane. Today he told me that they have too many girl toys at his school. So I suggested we donate some of ours and he was excited about that. A toy room clean-out weekend, yeah. --emily

Pool time

Enjoying the warm summer sun with friends at the pool! --emily

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend we were supposed to be camping with our friends at Lake Wenatchee, but we kept having things come up that prevented us from going. Then the evening before we were to be on the road, I broke my foot. So as a family we decided to stay home and make the most of this long holiday weekend.

Saturday afternoon Kelly put up the tent in the back yard. We invited a

few friends from the alley over to roast marshmallows and make

s'mores. The kids played in the dark tent with glow sticks. They giggled for hours!

Then at about 10:30 everyone went home and the boys settles in for the night. They slept in our awesome giant tent that filled our teeny yard. They had a uneventful and fun night sleeping under the stars. Our tent has a mesh top so you can see the night sky, but if it is rainy like it often is in the Northwest it has a cover. Don't they look cozy!

The next afternoon we were out in the alley. When our neighbor informed us that she saw the mama bear, out her bathroom window, in the alley last night. Our neighbor lives only 3 houses away. So my boys were only feet away from "mama" bear with a teeny picket fence keeping her away. I am glad she wasn't feeling aggressive. Otherwise this would be a sad blog post.

Sunday evening we went to our friends' house for an amazing dinner and fun conversation. Then with all the camping gear still in the yard, the boys wanted to roast more marshmallows, so we did. But this time they didn't spend the night in the tent.

It was a great weekend spending quality time together as a family.

--emily

Getting Better Soon!

On Friday evening, we decided to walk into town to eat some dinner as a family. When walking down a steepish hill that was newly barked, I slipped and broke the top of my foot. I have been in a walking cast all weekend and will be for 4 to 6 weeks. So my darling girls Nathalie and Abby made me a cake, brought a gerbera daisy and balloons all coordinating of course. You girls are the best. I feel so loved!

Look at all their hard work and attention to detail. Girls, you are so talented! Thanks for your thoughtfulness. --emily

My foot . . .

Jacob's First Day of Kindergarten

Friday was Jacob's first day of Kindergarten. He has been looking forward to this day for quite a while.

Jacob had his backpack all packed with his lunch, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, and a peachy folder. I made his lunch, but he selected and packed everything else himself.

It was a beautiful day for a walk to school. We're proud of both of our boys. We can't believe how fast they are growing up.

We walked to school with our good friend and neighbor, Will and his family. Kelly went in to work late so he could join us in taking Jacob to school.

I didn't find out much about what actually happen at school today. I asked him how his day was and he said, "Long! Even longer than church." --emily