Family Pictures

I realized the other day, that I had posted about how awesome our new family pictures are, but that I hadn't really posted any of the pictures - other than the crazy looking one of our family for our header.  I love getting new family pictures.  But what I hate is trying to figure out what everyone should wear, and then worrying that my strong willed daughters won't actually wear what I've so painstakingly picked out. The day we got our pictures taken, the weather was off and on rainy, with the forecast being more rain and wind.  We kept changing the time of our photo shoot, and I think we timed it perfectly.  The rain and wind held off, everything was bright because of the previous rain and the overcast skies kept us from squinting in the sun.  Plus, my daughters both wore what they had agreed to wear!  And without further ramblings, here are a few of my favorites.  Thanks again Pam for a job well done.

Off to School

First off - don't you just love our new family pictures?  My friend Pam, of PJ Kirkwood Photography, took them, and we all love them . . . and it doesn't hurt that my girls love Pam so they were more than willing to cooperate.

Amelia has been anxiously awaiting going to school for at least a year and the time has finally come.  She was supposed to start school on Sept. 9, but with the change to all-day Kindergarten for everyone, they changed the start date to Sept. 14, with a meet-and-greet with the teacher on the 9th.  Here are the girls with Amelia's teacher, Mrs. McKinney.

Amelia was so excited on the first day.  She refused to comb her hair or brush her teeth, but she literally ran/skipped all the way to the bus stop.

Ken and I were at odds whether or not Amelia would actually ride the bus to school on the first day or have to be driven to school.  But I won the bet - Amelia was very excited to ride the bus and jumped right on board when it got to our stop.  She only hesitated slightly, before continuing down the aisle to find a seat.  Mommy only cried a bit - after the bus had pulled away - I am so proud of Amelia.  She has made so much progress this year and was super ready to start school.

It's different at home during the day, with Amelia in school all day.  Sophia hasn't had a playmate, so she has become my little helper instead, and I love it.  Sophia started Joy School (a co-op preschool) today.  She was so excited and loved her first day.

I have a feeling that this is going to be a great year.  Both girls learning and growing (without me by their side) and a little time for me - to volunteer at Amelia's school, work on long overdue projects, and have a little down time.

August's Adventures

Ken took the girls to the Thurston County Fair, where they petted goats . . .

. . . watched the 4-H girls on their horses, ate an elephant ear . . . 

and left Mom at home to have a few hours of "me" time.  Everyone got just what they wanted.

The next day, we headed out to the beach, where it was so foggy, you couldn't even see the water.  And of course, we forgot jackets, but thank goodness for the baby blankets I keep in the car.  They came in handy as super-hero capes/protection from the wind.

The fog eventually cleared up . . . about 45 min. before we headed for home, and the water was too cold to do more than dip toes in, but we all enjoyed our day at the beach.

Ken took Monday, Aug. 3, off of work and we spent the day at Remlinger Farms - it was our 2nd year there and the girls love it.  They wish we had diggers like this in our yard . . . or at least in a nearby park.

 We rode the train . . . 

 paddled our canoe . . .

 pretended we were farmers after we petted the goats and rabbits . . .

and rode the ponies.

 We laughed and screamed on the roller coaster, the flying pumpkin, and the barrel spinners . . . and just had fun being silly and spending the day together as a family.

Two weeks later, we made our annual camping trip to Mt. Rainier.  The weather was perfect (never got colder than sweatshirt weather), didn't rain, our campsite was close to a bathroom (perfect for the middle-of-the-night potty needs), and no one got hurt or lost!

Our campsite had a lot of big rocks and fallen trees around it, and the girls loved climbing and playing on them.

We did some hiking around Mt. Rainier.  It's definitely a lot browner around the mountain than last year, but still amazing and beautiful.

 I love that Sophia always wants to hold my hand.

After a not-so-restful night (ie. air mattress deflating in the middle of the night), I took a nap, while Ken helped the girls build and decorate paper airplanes.  When mommy is rested, everyone is happy :)

 We hiked some more . . . 

 played baseball in our campsite . . .

 and explored the old-growth forest near the park's entrance.  I'm always amazed by how big trees can get. 

After a successful camping trip, with kudos to Ken for doing the cooking and cleaning up (my 2 least favorite parts of camping), we headed home, where I did 3 loads of laundry, gave the girls a bath, fixed dinner, and helped Ken put away the camping gear.  That was fun - let's do it again next year!

Is July Over Already?

On July 7, I took the girls to the Lacey Library to meet real princesses - the fair ladies of the Lakefair Royalty.  My girls were so excited and the princesses were so sweet.

Sophia doesn't look it, but she was thrilled to be with all the princesses and the queen . . . and to get a real glittery crown like theirs.

On July 13, we all headed to Klamath Falls for a Schnell/ DeVoll reunion.  It's not a big family, but it's a GREAT family.  My girls loved playing with their cousin Landon, who loved being the oldest for once instead of the youngest ;)

The resort where we stayed (thank you Grandpa Ernie), had an indoor pool - which, sadly, we only used once, but the girls loved every minute of it.  Here they are posing at the door, ready to go make a splash!

 Since I was swimming with Sophia, I didn't get any pictures of Amelia. Sophia loved "swimming" in this pool - it was only 1 1/2 ft. deep.  I didn't mind it myself, since it was considerably warmer than the big pool.

And of course we visited Crater Lake while we were down South.  It is as beautiful and blue as always.

What I didn't realize about Crater Lake is that there is a hike in the SW corner of the park that is quite different, aka. hot and not so blue, but just as interesting, especially for my geologist sister-in-law.  Here are the 4 grandkids with Grandpa Ernie - ranging in age from 3 - 17.

On our way back to Klamath Falls, we stopped for lunch and a dip in the lake at Lake of the Woods.  Where Amelia fed the ducks potato chips . . . 

 . . . played in the water . . . (or, if you were me, just stood in the water, trying not to freak out that my girls were on a floating dock in deep water without a life jacket on) . . . 

 . . . enjoyed some brother bonding time . . .

and ate ice cream . . . in a towel - because Mom forgot to bring a change of clothes.  Who knew that lunch at Lake of the Woods meant that there would be an actual lake to play in, right?

Here's the whole gang - looking happy after a delicious lunch!

And of course, there always has to be silly games played at a reunion, right?  This is the aftermath of our minute-to-win-it "toss the Cheetos in the shaving cream hat" game.  Notice Amelia in the background trying to salvage Cheetos to eat.  Obviously they're a rarity at our house and too important to leave lying around ;)

And after we said good-bye to the Schnells/ DeVolls, we stopped for a quick visit to see Richelle and Phyllis in Central Point.  

And finally, we stopped to visit Grandma Diane before heading the rest of the way home.

July has just flown by.  Maybe we'll catch our breath in August . . . or not.  But maybe I'll be better at getting pictures posted before they're out of date.

Fun Times

To celebrate July 4th, we took the girls to the Tumwater July 4th parade.  It's a "hometown" parade, so the floats/ entries aren't that exciting, but the girls seemed to like it . . . other than the loud cars/sirens/etc. that Amelia does NOT love.

It was so cute watching the girls wave at everyone that went by.  Sophia loved the horses.

And Amelia thought the school bus was pretty cool - she really is excited for school to start.

On July 3, we took the girls to the Lacey fireworks show - the girls loved it.  They also loved lighting small fireworks in their own driveway on the 4th.  They've got a handful of snaps and are ready for things to get exciting.

Yesterday I took the girls to the Lacey Library for Princess Story time - stories read by the Lakefair Royalty.  They were a bit shy at first, but they soon warmed up to the princesses and were excited that they even got to make paper crowns with the princesses.

And there were so few kids there, that they each got a "glittery" crown and got to have their picture taken with all the royalty.  It's hard to see Sophia's excitement, but she couldn't stop talking about how she got to sit on one of their laps.  I love fun, free events that I can take the girls to.