Summer Fun

Well, we have all been enjoying our amazing summer weather. We have been to Pine Lake a lot and the girls are enjoying jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler under it, just like we did when we were kids. John and I taught Sela how to burn things with a magnifying glass...she enjoys it a little too much but knows she has to do it with mom around.

Sela also lost her first front tooth! She had wiggled that little thing to death and finally Daddy pulled it out for her. I was kind of sad. Another sign of my little girl growing up. No tears for Sela though....she couldn't be more excited about her new grin. She is such a sweetheartand I am amazed at her kind heart.

This weekend the girls had a marathon playdate with Sarah and Eliza. They played outside all day long until they pretty much crashed. Love those lazy summer days with no schedule.

Redmond Derby Days Kids Parade

The girls rode in the Derby Days Kids Parade today. There was some disagreement as to which category we would ride in. Nina wanted to be in the Princess category and Sela wanted to be in Save our Earth. Nina ended up compromising and they put some flowers on her little horsee and she rode as an environmental snowwhite cowgirl. Sela was a hula dancing tree hugging flower child. They each came up with their own costumes and we didn't change a thing. We had a great time watching the girls!

Thanks Babcia!!

The girls were thrilled to receive a wonderful package from Babcia for 4th of July! They absolutely loved their new clothes and especially these little dresses. Moriah also looked adorable in her new strawberry outfit. Sela and Nina were especially thrilled about their cute cards. Thank you so much, Babcia. You made everyone's day.

Catching Up....

It's been a crazy week around here. Mom came into town on the 4th and things are hoppin. For the 4th, we went to some friends who have a home on the lake for a BBQ and to watch the fireworks over Lake Sammamish. The kids had so much fun and the fireworks went on forever! Erin and John even made a brief appearance before Erin felt sick. She has been so sick with this pregnancy and some days she can't even get out of bed. She has a really bad first trimester.


On Thursday we went to pick raspberries with mom. They were amazing and mom was in heaven. We picked 14 pounds. We will definitely return for round 2.

We went to see a home last weekend, which isn't too abnormal for us, but we weren't expecting to have the reaction we did. We kind of fell in love with the property. We have been back two more times and are now thinking it over. It's a wonderful place. The kind of place that is truly one of a kind and it is doubtful anything even remotely like it will come on the market for a long time. So, we are thinking a lot. I will write more if anything comes of it.

A kindergartener no longer......

Today was Sela's graduation from Kindergarten. We are so proud of her and what a great year she has had. She has made a great little group of friends and I know she will miss them next year. The kindergarteners sang two songs at the assembly today and they were very touching. Nina and I were able to go and Sela kept waving to us. Nina found Grace Barr, one of her favorite babysitters, in the audience and sat with her. We got up early because Sela wanted to curl her hair and ride the bus her last day. I found this little box a couple of days with the word "Norm" spelled out in sticker letters. I gently opened it and found a sweet note to Norm, the bus driver. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It basically said "Dear Norm, you are the best bus driver. I will miss you. I hope you like my present" In the little box were two tiny hershey bars, two dark chocolates, one dollar bill, and a sticker. I didn't change a thing and Sela proudly took it to him this morning :)

Our week....

This week began with a trip to the zoo. It was quite sunny out so we didn't see as many animals as usual, but we still had a great time. It seems like we always have the best luck on overcast days.

Later in the week we went strawberry picking again. It was much harder work this time even though we brought John along. Going the first week is definitely the way to go...the plants are loaded with strawberries then. We still picked a lot and the kids had fun getting dirty and eating lots of berries.

Sela had field day at school on Friday. Field day is not the same as it was when I was little. I loved field day and all the races and relays. I should have known there would be nothing with "winners" anymore. Things have changed. It's fine either way, but I got Sela all excited about running races and other field events. The Alcott field day had 23 events from hula hoops to ice blocking to shimmying up a rope. I took Nina and she participated in a few things, her favorite being snacktime.

Zig and I went to a luncheon/fundraiser for Mitt Romney on Wednesday and we had a girls night out that night with a few friends. Erin and I snuck away one evening to play tennis which was really fun. Neither of us get to play as much as we'd like to. I really miss it and I want to find a way to get involved in a league again if I can figure out how to do it with the kids. I am pretty rusty though so it's great to have John and Erin here to play with. Zig is getting better each time as well.

On Saturday, Zig was in town so he started off the day with a bike ride to Carnation. He was gone at least three hours breaking his new road bike in. Later in the afternoon we all rode to a park the girls and I discovered on our bike ride earlier in the week. It had courts so we played some more tennis. The babies were running all over but somehow we still got a decent hitting session in and no injuries to the ball babies.

Early Sunday Zig left for Florida. Now we're off to another busy week. And only one more day of school!!! Summer is finally here.

Happy Father's Day...

Today we had a wonderful and to be totally honest, exhausting father's day. We started the day with gusto. Erin and I made homemade donuts (in honor of our Dad), huevos rancheros, hashbrowns and strawberry freezes. It was a yummy brunch. Erin and I realized after we bought the ingredients to make the donuts that Zig won't eat anything fried and John had this totally random goal of not eating donuts. Erin said he never ate them anyway, but for some reason he made that goal. But, we were so excited about making them ourselves that we went ahead. The guys ended up polishing off the donuts no problem in the true spirit of father's day. It was pretty funny.

After a fairly leisurly brunch and sharing our favorite memories of our dads, we got ready for church. When we came home we were all quite tired. The kids were melting but somehow we eventually got our homemade gyoza and rice bowls on the table. The babies both have colds and were incredibly whiney today. They also woke up very early and we stayed up sooo late last night. I am so tired tonight my eye balls hurt. But, it's been a great week overall. Zig and I had the rare opportunity of going out on a date at 2:30 in the afternoon until the evening on Friday. Erin and John were so nice to watch the kids and we had so much fun just hanging out, doing some shopping, and going to Cafe Flora, one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants. We are all loving our little "commune" setup :)

Saturday night Zig, John, Sela and I went out to Tolt McDonald park for an evening mountain bike ride. We had dinked around all day and finally got on our way at about 7pm. Just our luck as we got our bikes unloaded, it started to pour. Not the drizzle that we typically have, but full on rain. We just had to laugh because we couldn't do any real trails. I didn't have rainproof gear on and neither did John. Zig and Sela did. Sela was a trooper. She loved riding through all the puddles and the rain didn't bother her. I was soaked. I was shivering and we had the shortest ride ever. I continued to shiver for hours after we got home. But it's a great memory for sela and something to look back on and laugh about for the rest of us.

Dad, we took these pictures especially for you because we are so bad about getting things in the mail. We kept saying we need stamps, we need stamps all week. Finally we decided to try and take some pictures for you and Sela worked hard on a card. We love you so much!!!! Happy Father's Day.