Meet the Teacher!

Wednesday night was Meet the Teacher night at Amanda's new school. After much anticipation, we finally found out we got the time (AM) and the teacher we had asked for! And what do you know, Amanda & Lauren are in class together. We like that, because they are not exclusive - they both like to play with everyone - but it also makes it more convenient for drop off & pick up, plus it's nice to have a familiar face in a new school!





Check out Lisa's site for more pictures (I haven't downloaded mine yet), but here's a cute one of Amanda with her new teacher.

Kindergarten, here we come... looking forward to a great year!!

Fun with the Smiths... Photos!

Here are some pictures of our fun day at the beach with the Smith family. It was the perfect location, perfect weather, perfect company, and so much fun!!!

Ahhh, the obligatory family photo, and siblings showing us how much they love each other!

Andrew had fun as long as he was away-far away-from the water!

Amanda exploring the nearby caves.

Look at my shells... we ended up with quite a collection!

Mark and Jay climbing... now how do we get down?!

Amanda, Kassidy, & McKenzie playing in the water... they didn't care that it was cold, or that they were still in their clothes!

Most of the kids... Jay, Kassidy, McKenzie, Abby, and Amanda (and Leilani in the background)... Andrew was still freaking out about being so close to the water, so he wanted mommy to hold him!

After the beach we went to the Camp Harlow pool to wash off all the sand. Somehow Jay talked Mark & I into doing flips off the diving board, and even caught this one on camera!

Not quite in sync, but not bad for a couple of 30-somethings! (They make it look so easy in the Olympics!)

The Kangaroo Farm!

Here are some fun pictures from our visit to the Kangaroo farm. We plan to visit again in a couple of weeks - maybe there will be less kids there this time!

The ringtailed lemurs are the first stop... they are quite cute! Mr. Peacock just hopped up on the fence because he knows after the lemurs, it's snack time for him!

Andrew & Amanda in the pen where the wallabies, kangaroos, and caby's live. They'll eat right out of your hand!

This is Jack, he's about 5 years old. He still has another foot or so of growing to do!

One of the highlights... "Kissing" the llamas (& alpaca). You put a pellet that is about an inch long between your lips, and the llamas & alpaca will eat it right from your mouth... so it looks like you're kissing them! The llama was pretty clean, but apparently Amanda got a bit wet one from the alpaca!

Another highlight... holding the baby kangaroo (okay, this is actually a baby wallaby, but we didn't know the difference!). They are so cute!!

Thanks, Grandma, for a fun outing!! (It was way better than the zoo)

Finally...Some Pictures!

Amanda & Kassidy show off their new matching outfits!

At Martin & Jen's wedding...

a reunion of coworkers, and a nice

date night in a beautiful location!

Leilani & I worked on this puzzle literally for HOURS! Over 600 pieces, most of them not interlocking, and look at all the blue! We were VERY proud of our accomplishment.

Andrew & Abby enjoy a treat at Costco. Abby is just 2 weeks younger than Andrew -

it's fun to watch them grow up together!

Jay's new "toy" - a karoake machine! The kids loved it...

And so did Jay!!

Fun with the Smith's!

We were honored to have our friends the Smiths to our house this past weekend. It's a long drive - especially through rush hour traffic towards the end of summer - but they finally got here around naptime on Friday. We had just stayed with them while we were on our visit to Washington, but we really enjoy showing people our new home and our new town.

Friday night was our standard trip to Putter's. The kids all had fun, and dad and son (Jay & Jay) had some one-on-one time playing mini-golf. The Fosters were also there on their weekly dinner with Lisa's family, so we took up half of the tables by the play area!

Saturday was a big day... we headed over to the coast for some fun in the sand. We thought it would be chilly, but ended up with perfect weather. The kids all got very sandy, very wet, and very tired! Aaron guided us to this great beach near the Heceta Head lighthouse, and it ended up being the perfect place to play!

Leilani had the great idea of stopping by our house for swimsuits, then heading to Camp Harlow for swimming - leave the sand there instead of bringing it home! Everyone had a great time... after lots of encouragement and warming up, Mark & I did flips off the diving board!! Amanda jumped off the diving board (with help) - and didn't like it. Andrew went down the slide with mommy - and didn't like it. But the Smith kids all had a blast, and Jay valiantly tried to teach Kassidy and little Jay to dive.

It was a busy day, but we had a great time and the kids all slept really well!

Sunday we got to enjoy outdoor church at Camp Harlow - which sounds like a great idea, until you're trying to get 6 kids under the age of 8 to sit still... they did pretty well. There was some great worshipful dancing during the singing!

We really had a great time with you guys, and can't wait for the next visit! Hopefully traffic will be better next time... Thanks for taking the time to come hang out with us!!

PS - I will get some pictures posted tomorrow!

Finally updating!

Hi all! Sorry I'm so behind... I'll try to catch you up, and will post some pictures tomorrow.

First of all, today is my brother Matt's birthday - so HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! My niece and nephew, Ryan and Michelle, also recently had a birthday and turned 9... your cards are in mail, hopefully you've gotten them by now!

The remainder of our WA visit was great! We went to the kangaroo farm, which is just about 20 minutes from my mom's. http://www.christmastreesandroos.com/ It was awesome!! You actually get to walk in the pens with the kangaroos, wallabies, llamas, alpacas, and more... and you get to feed them and pet them. Way better than the zoo! It's about a 40-minute tour, and we can't wait to go back. I highly recommend it, well worth the money.

We also got to spend a day in Bellingham. We spent some time visiting my good friend Amy and her not-so-little guy, Klay. What a smile!! We had lunch with Auntie-to-be Caitlin, her mom, and one of her sisters, then dropped the kids with Uncle Chris while mom & I went shopping.

Friday the kids got to stay at Grandma's and I (finally) got to have a break! Mark came in that evening, and we had a nice time visiting with our friends and trying to beat the heat. After just 1 year, we've already gotten used to air conditioning!

Saturday was Jen & Martin's wedding. It was a really nice wedding, and we had a great time catching up with some of Mark's former co-workers and watching some interesting dance moves at the reception! Congrats to the newleyweds... hope you enjoyed your gift from us!!

Sunday was another visit to our old church, a quick lunch with the Guests and Neals, and then the long drive home. Overall we had a great time, and we felt very blessed by our friends who took time out of their schedules to catch up with us. We'll try not to wait so long between visits!

More Vacation Fun!

My last post ended at Friday during naptime, so I have lots of fun events to catch you up on!

Friday afternoon, 3 of our local friends stopped by with their kiddos (3 kids each) for a nice visit! Leilani served yummy snacks and provided a place for us to visit and chat. Thank you, Leilani - you're a great hostess and a great friend!! And Rebecca, Rebecca, and Marcie, thanks for taking some time to come say hi and catch up for a few minutes. It was great to see you... you have no idea how much I miss all of you!

Friday night Jay offered to watch all 6 kids so Leilani & I could get a little girl time! We had a great dinner and went shopping - and even found adorable matching outfits for Amanda & Kassidy, which they loved!! Thanks, Jay =D

Anyway, Saturday we had planned on taking up Jay & Leilani's friends on a visit to a lake house they were house sitting at, but woke up to grey skies and rain. Instead, Jay went on an adventure to the movies with little Jay, Kassidy, Amanda, McKenzie, and their Japanese exchange student, Yuka! The kids had fun - and Leilani and I felt like we were on vacation with just Andrew and Abby to entertain. We got to do some more shopping and found some great deals on more clothes for the kids. (It's always easier to shop for the kids!)

Sunday the kids and I had the pleasure of visiting our old church home... I went to the Marrieds class with Leilani, then got to check out the new Senior pastor who started right around the time we moved. Strangely, even after a year, it still feels like home to me! The kids had a great time visiting and playing with some of their old friends. We ran into Tracy Price, who was here visiting from France (we missed seeing the kids by just 1 day!), and she came over for a visit after church.

Sunday evening the kids and I headed to Uncle Phil & Auntie Kat's house for dinner. After 3 days of constant activity, you'd think the kids would be tired... but nooooo, they were so wound up! They were wanting to run around outside and jump on Uncle Phil, and were a little crazy. But I think Phil liked it (Kat says he just wants a playmate!). We got to see the nursery all set up for little Finnegan's arrival (mid-November) and passed on some little boy clothes. They'll come visit us in a just a couple of weeks, and we'll get to "shower" them Walter-family style!

Exhausted after 4 nights of late bedtimes, broken sleep, and lots of wonderful and fun activity, we packed up and headed out from the Smith's. Our first stop was our old neighbor's - Taryn and Tanna - for a quick visit. Amanda says she doesn't remember our old house at all, but maybe seeing it triggered some memories. We had a nice visit - the kids are all growing up so fast - it was really great to see you guys!

Next stop for Monday was lunch with "The Girls" from Grandma McCone's work. It's always nice to see them, catch them up on our lives, and let the kids show off for a bit. =D The rest of the day was just relaxing and catching up on laundry at Grandma's.

That brings us up to today, where the best is yet to come... a visit to the kangaroo farm! Sounds like a fun time, so we'll let you know how it goes. Hope you all are well, and we'll either see you later this week, or next week when we're home!!

Our Trip... Day 1

Hi all!

If you've read Lisa's blog - or if we'll be seeing you in the next week - you already know the kids and I are gone for a few days to visit friends and family in WA. We drove up yesterday with some much-appreciated company, my brother Zack. That is a LOOONG drive if you have to do it by yourself with 2 kids! We made great time, and arrived at the Smith's around 3:30. I barely saw Amanda the rest of the evening, she was having so much fun playing with Kassidy and a surprise visit from Kassidy's cousins.

The kids slept great last night... once Kassidy & Amanda quit all their chit-chatting! Let me say, though, that sharing a full size bed with my son does NOT make a good night's sleep... tonight he's sleeping on the floor, and I'm taking some Benadryl!

We went today to visit some friends from an old playgroup and had a really great time. This is the first time we've seen them since we moved. So we spent the morning there and all the kiddos played well together, and Kim and I got to catch up. It was great to see you guys, Kim - thanks for hosting (& feeding) us!

I'll be sure to keep you posted on our trip, but didn't bring the camera cable, so will have to send pictures later.

Baseball and Haircuts

More fun with Uncle Zack... Friday night we went to an Em's game. No, not the M's (as in the Mariners), but the Em's - as in the Emeralds, our local baseball team. It wasn't quite Safeco Field, but it was fun to take the kids - even better, the tickets were free courtesy of Mark's work. The kids all got free baseball cards, and ice cream in a cute little baseball hat shaped bowl, and Lisa got a picture of a local celebrity (a reporter from the local TV station).

Saturday night Mark decided to offer everyone haircuts... even Zack. Surprise, mom!! What do you think?

A special visitor... and a funny story!

My youngest brother, Zack, came in on Wed and is staying with us until we head up for our visit next week. First of all... he had his 3-year check up last month and is still cancer-free, so at this point he is considered CURED. He will still have to be followed for secondary carcinomas and other health risks due to the chemo. PRAISE GOD!!!

We are having a great time with him visiting... yesterday we all went to the gym, and he got to watch Amanda's last swim lesson. She liked showing off for him! Last night we headed out for some swimming at Camp Harlow, the summer camp run by our church. They have an awesome pool with diving boards and a slide, and even a 1-foot deep kiddie pool which the little boys loved. Zack was a big help with the kids, since we get there before Mark gets of work. (See Lisa's blog for some cute pictures.) We have more fun things planned, so stay tuned for more updates.





And now to the funny story...

Mark thought it would be funny to buy these shirts for him and Aaron - they are pink and say "Make time for the girls" on the front, for breast cancer awareness. When he ordered them, he didn't realize they would be women's sizes, so even with his amazing physique, it was tight and didn't fit right. In fact, he refused to even put it on for any of us!! So he and Aaron "handed down" their shirts to Lisa and I, and we got a kick out of wearing them to the gym on Thursday and telling people they were our husbands' shirts. Lisa thought it would be more appropriate to alter her shirt to say something like "Have you seen my girls?" Anyway, maybe you had to be there... but we had a great time with it, and now we have some new cute workout shirts!

Okay, okay...

Yes, it's been an entire WEEK since my last blog *gasp*! So here goes a quick update...

1. Potty training... not so much! Andrew will pee in the potty (if he happens to be on it and needs to go), but also doesn't mind peeing in undies, Pull Ups, or on the floor! The good news - he likes wearing undies, and he loves jelly beans - that's a good start. We will come back to it in another month or so when I'm ready to commit!!

2. The kids discovering an open space that isn't filled yet... due to the reorganization of our family room and addition of a "floating" flat panel!

3. Amanda's LAST swimming lesson this summer...

She has transformed from freaking out if she has to put her face in the water, to actually swimming! It's not pretty, but it works. She is always more confident if she knows she can touch, but she is getting so much better. I guess our persistence and consistency paid off... this time!

Amanda likes the swim mask... it adds to her "bug-eyed" look!

4. Another fun outing at Putters - We took Emma & Forrest for their first time last week!

More to come... stay tuned!

PS - You can always check out Lisa's blog for more updates... since we're often with them on our fun adventures, and she always has her camera!