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