James's First Day

Emily's Baptism Day

Emily turned 8 near the end of the summer.  She was also baptized by Adam.  Adam's parents visited from out of state, and a lot of my family who live close bys  joined us for that special day.

The whole day was really memorable--Emily was baptized with another friend, Autumn, from church and they both did great singing a song together about baptism.

Me with my family--My twin sister with her family. Do we still look alike?

Emily's favorite cuz!

We brought down our ExerSaucer from the attic--baby Alec was the perfect age for it.  Tess and Rachael acted like little moms wiping his nose and such. This picture perfectly shows his feelings about their help.

Kindergarten Hand Prints

 A few parents and I helped Michael's Kindergarten class make t-shirts.

Each child had to leave his or her hand print on some 20 shirts--phew, what an undertaking!

Can you find Michael's print?

Who knows how long the shirt will hold up, but these photos should last a while.

A Birthday for Tess

 We had a small family birthday party for Tessa earlier this summer.  As we often like to do, we celebrated on her actual birthday.  The birthday girl can snitch from her own cake, but we waited for Daddy to get home from work before the real party began.

Look at that cake, Dad!

New gifts.  A summer dress, cash register...

...a baby doll.

How does it taste?

Chasing bubbles!  Tess insisted on blowing the bubbles, not chasing them.  That's our Tessa--a do it myself kinda gal.

Shooting Stars!

Emily was way excited to race with friends for the Gap2Gap relay race.  The junior segment of the race includes running, biking, rollerskating, and an obstacle course. I took Emily to the bike path the day before to try out what I thought was the full length of the course--turns out I was wrong and she had to bike a considerably longer distance than what we'd practiced, but she still did great and powered up a small hill at the end of her portion.

Ready to go! 

Team Shooting Stars won second in their group.

Here she is with her sparkly pink and turquoise "mystic island" bike.  Next year, Emily and Michael can race together on a team.  That'll be fun!

Under the Sun Hat

Who is under that sun hat?

 Quite the curly top! 

This photo was snapped shortly after Tess woke up from a nap last Sunday afternoon.  Adam loves to see Tess when she first wakes in the morning or from a nap.  Her hair is oh so curly and sometimes going in a million different directions.  Just one of many ways this little gal is such a delight!

Adam and Kari, sans kiddos

 The photo with Adam and me was a trick to get. Carefully resting my camera on the split rail fence to be sure it wouldn't fall, I hopped the fence, ran to Adam, and waited 'til I thought the camera had clicked. I went to see our photo, but there was none.  Instead, there was a quick video of Adam backing up in front of the camera, then standing with a smile on his face.  So the process started over and finally we got our photo-- just the two of us like it was nine years ago.

View of nearby farm from the Whitman Mission Historical Site, Walla Walla

Walla Walla, WA!

 Stained Glass above a cafe

Playground fence meets wall mural--love the textures and colors of this photo

 

Photos from our much too short Walla Walla weekend...Adam and I enjoyed a little get away two weekends ago while my parents graciously watched our four kids for a couple of days.  We stayed at the "historic" Marcus Whitman hotel, visited the farmers market, spent forever trying to decide where to eat, then finally settled on eating fair food while watching the hot air balloons they had set up for the annual balloon stampede. More photos of that to come.

Visit to the Farmers Market

Adam and I visited Walla Walla's  Farmers Market.  The market is held every Saturday and Sunday from 9 to 1, and we enjoyed testing out our new camera on the colorful items from local vendors.  Wish we could get back more often--I love farmers markets, but unfortunately our local market is held on Sundays. I might have to see if I can change that somehow....

Doves' Nest

My mom and I spotted these doves above my parents' front entryway on Mother's Day.  Aren't they sweet?  Click on the photo so you can really see the details--they have beautiful coloring.  Fitting for Mother's Day, don't you think?

Children's Underground

One of our favorite local places to take the kids for an indoor outing is the Children's Underground, a play area that is in the lower level of our local museum. We recently visited the museum with Gene and Elida, my kids' cousins. They had a blast--even Adam was in on the fun with a "train track gun" playing the part of bandit or sheriff.

Way Cool

I love seeing the orchards with melting ice on a sunny Spring morning.

This orchard borders the west end of our neighborhood. The trees are sprayed with water to help protect the fruit from freezing. I understand the process a little (just google it and you'll get the jist of it at least), but when I first saw this last spring I thought it was the coolest and most ironic thing ever--spraying trees with water that freezes to keep the tree from freezing? Way cool!