Grace's First Day

Grace at her desk.
Grace with her teacher, Mrs. Porter, outside her classroom.


Grace's first day of school.

I figure Grace can tell you better, about her first day.

A Bit About Each

Grace wore a shirt a few days ago that says, "Daddy's Girl". Reece, Madison and I were at school and Grace was to spend the day with her daddy. Mike had some errands out in Portland to do, so he told Grace to get dressed. She came out with her shirt on and told Mike, "See my shirt, Dad? I'm wearing it because I love you and this is our day."

This kid is insane. I dared him to run through the fountain. I told him, if he did it, I would do it too. He called my bluff and ran through it. Then, trying to really make me pay, he kept running through it and got completely drenched. He figured, that however many times he ran though, I would have to run through. I told him, this Mama only made one deal, he go through,
I go through. That's it. Anyways, I went through and of course, got pretty wet and cold. But, for one evening, I was a cool mom who still played around.

Madison is becoming quite the young lady. She has become a very good brownie baker. I love that I can ask her to make some brownies and she will go and do it all herself. She has opinions about everything. I love to go shopping with her and giggle when she heads to the sale racks to save money or will find coupon and pull it and put it into my coupon folder. She is a great help to keep tally of my spending when we grocery shop. She is very loving and affectionate.

Carousel

I have so many pictures of my kids riding the carousel. It's a classic, isn't it? Every time they come across one, they beg to ride it. Their faces still light up as they go around and up and down. I admit, they are getting to be a bit more thrill seeking, but still love the classics

Fall

As we are struggling to adjust to our new Fall schedule, we like to stop and take notice of a few fun changes and life steps.

The kids had their first day of school this week. It was a smooth morning, we all got up and dressed and out the door by 7:15. We had time to kick-off the first day by going and getting a coffee and hot chocolates at our favorite coffee house.

Mada started 4th grade and got her very first locker. She was so excited and has been thinking of ways to dress up her locker. She is excited to be going to school without glasses, this year. How wonderful it is for her to see. We love her nighttime contacts. What a blessing!!!!

Reece started 2nd grade. He wasn't thrilled about heading back. He would much rather be out riding his bike and climbing on whatever he can find. He is happy about the new playground equipment and has spent all his free time out there climbing the rock wall and playing army men.

Grace has an interesting year ahead of her. She will officially start Kindergarten full time this year. Her first day is Monday. Normally, Kindergartners get out at noon, but Grace will be staying longer and moving up to the Learning Center in the afternoons with all the 1st graders. She is going to be in PE and participate in the other activities the bigger kids do too. She is excited to be going to school, but told me last night that she doesn't like the work part.

Our weekends that we all have off are treasured. We have enjoyed going out and hiking this summer. On our last summer day together, we hit some more hiking trails and enjoyed an evening on the beach. On our hike we came across on old WWII bunker. They used to use it watch the Pacific Ocean for Japanese subs. Reece LOVED this find. Of course he found a stick and he was off in another world fighting bad guys. The girls got involved in his game and Mike and I sat back watching our kids run around and play, knowing that all to soon they will be too "grown-up" to pretend.

David Crowder*Band - Oh Happiness Live - Summer 2010

There's Grace

Our family's favorite song these days, is David Crowder Band's, "Oh, Happiness." The kids always ask for me to play that when we get into the van. Mike noticed the words," . . . there's grace. . . " and he started pointing at Grace. Well, it caught on, and now not only do we sing this song out loud, but we started pointing at Grace every time these section of words comes. She loves it.

I posted the video and song below this post.

Dancing In The Rain

We were visiting Bend on vacation. My husband and I decided a day of caching would be a great way to experience and explore all the many beautiful parks Bend has to offer!! Plus, it would be a fun thing to do with the kids. We started off our morning letting the kids paint ceramics with their cousins. It's a tradition for us to all go.

After they were done, we headed on our way to pick up the first cache, thinking we could probably fit a few in. Finding parking near the park was dreadful. It was a warm, gorgeous day and many people were floating down the Deschutes River, playing Frisbee with their dogs and enjoying the beautiful day. We finally found parking and got out of our car and started over the bridge. The kids climbed up the side to view the ducks and people on the river. A few big raindrops plopped down on us, but nothing us Oregonians' can't handle. I was quick to say that a little rain wouldn't hurt us and it would soon pass. Our gps set us right over to the rocks and after helping the kids up the rocks, the rain really started to pound down. We thought we could wait out the rain, knowing it was just a quick summer rain and would soon pass. The kids climbed under some big rocks and Mike and I leaned over them to help shield them. The kids are used to the rain and don't normally mind, but wow, this was no ordinary rain, the drops were huge and mixed in, was the biggest hail our family had ever seen!!! After trying to wait out the hail, ten minutes later we decided to make a run for our van. Mike and I had enough welts on our backs and couldn't take much more. We dashed back to the van, drenched to the bone!! Everything was flooded. Reece and Grace made it first. By this time, Grace was hysterical. She crouched down by the van and Reece, being a true man of valour, covered her with his own body so she wouldn't get wet or hit by the hail. My heart melted at his sweetness and show of character.

We all laughed (later) and vowed we would come back and get this cache. We did the next day and kicked ourselves! We were sitting right on top of the box the whole time, but were so consumed with trying to avoid the huge hail that we never did see it!!!
This is one cache this family will never forget and still laughs about!!!