Spring Concert and Band Concert

One thing I love about blogging is that it gives family and friends who either couldn't' attend or are too far in distance to actually be a part of things a chance to see happening in our lives. This last week the girls both were involved in their school's Spring Concert. The theme was "lighten up" and they accomplished the theme it was super fun and filled with fun songs that made us laugh. This was the first and only time the Kindergartners preformed with the big kids and that was so fun for them!

Here is Syrah and her class singing one of their songs:

They did a second song: A Spoon Full of Sugar and after the song the spoons keep the kids busy... almost all of them kept the spoons in their mouths... pretty cute!

Sadie's class had a few songs, I didn't have the camera at this point, so there is no video to share. As you can see - Sadie lightened up...she was giggling tons through the songs which involved one song of silly noises!

A few days later the 5th and 6th graders had their band concert. I did capture a few videos (sorry they are a tad all over).

I could not get many good pictures at all and could not get the red eye out of this one - yikes!

All and all the year end events are super fun! This next week for the kids is their final week; hard to believe they will be heading to 1st and 6th grade! Where does the time go? This year was faced with many firsts for all of us, but we know God put is in the situation to attend an amazing school, to meet many new people and to experience many new things this year. We give Him all the Glory for this amazing year!

Field trip to The Museum of Flight

Yesterday Bill was able to take the day off work and go on a field trip with Sadie's class to The Museum of Flight in Seattle. The kids spent the entire day there and both said there was even more to see and they would both love to go back!

One of the many things the kids got to do (which they have been preparing for in the class room) is work at the Challenger Learning Center which allows the kids to have hands on experience in a space mission. The kids jobs in the mission were all ready determined based on the applications they submitted prior to the trip.

The kids get to see what it is like (with their roles) within the space station and within mission control. Usually they do not allow more than the teacher in with the students for this activity (which is almost 2 hours of the day), but yesterday they did allow a few other parents to come in and act like the wall which gave Bill the chance to capture some great pictures! Sadie's primary role was in communication and all income and outgoing messages had to be screened by her and then determined to which department they had to be given too. Mrs. Klien shared that in her first years of doing this there was no "forward" button for this job, but that each and every message had to be printed and ran to the proper department.


Some other things the kids were able to do was to tour the now retired Concorde an aircraft capable of flying two times the speed of sound. The kids also were able to do some flight simulations and tour Air Force One.

I know Bill and Sadie look forward to going back and I look forward to going one day.

My cousins wedding

Sunday my cousin Sarah was married to Matthew at Thronwood Castle; it was an amazing ceremony and a beautiful location.

Thornwood Castle is also a bed and breakfast and I wish that I would have been able to peak into some of the rooms; it was absolutely breath taking.

My brother Eric and his bride Lauren!


Sadie, Grandma Valerie and Syrah before the wedding.

Sadie and Syrah in the Secret Garden


Sarah being escorted by her Father, my Uncle Jerry. She looked stunning!

It's a little hard to see but on the tree limb is a Blue Heron which flew out of the trees and stuck around on the limb during most of the ceremony! In addition there were bald eagles circling above and many small birds fluttering and twittering about during the ceremony!

It's official they are married!!

Sarah and Matt, we wish you all the best and pray that God will strengthen your marriage each day. Congratulations!!

More time with family

Saturday we went to my dad's house for a summer (yes, it felt like summer!) barbecue. We just don't see them as much as we were when we were planning the wedding, but we love the time we do get and were grateful for Saturday!

My dad!!

Sadie took over the camera so that I could play some cards, she captured some fun photos of the garden and of her sister.

Syrah and Ava - as you can see Ava was warm and got tons of exercise that day.

Ava was grateful to be included in the fun!!

Time with family...

Over Memorial Day weekend Bill's mom Mary Lou, her friend Bill and Billy's son Jeremiah came up from Medford. We are so grateful that Jeremiah is in Medford and grateful that Mary Lou offered to bring him up on her trip (Thank you Mary Lou). While they were here we had great weather so we were able to take them to the zoo and the Ballard Locks in addition to enjoying good food and quality time with family!

This was the newest addition to the zoo; however, be it that I am blogging so late, I can't remember for the life of me what it is called! All I know it is was cute and like all creatures, I am amazing at our God's creativity!

The family eating lunch at the zoo!

We were able to talk Mary Lou and Bill into playing rock band. I don't think it was Mary Lou's favorite, but Jeremiah had fun!!

Sunday we went to the Ballard Locks. It was very fun to see some of the different sized vessel using the lock system (which is amazing).

The kids were able to catch some waves!

Group picture outside the locks!

We were able to visit the fish ladders too and we came in at just the right time, we were able to hear someone do a small presentation on the salmon journey. This was great timing as Sadie has been studying Salmon in school. It was a lot of fun!

Unfortunately the trip ended on a not so good note. This picture captures Bill caring for Mary Lou after she was stung by a bee. We didn't get through the gardens, but I know we will make it back another time.

We were glad to be able to spend the long weekend with Mary Lou, Bill and Jeremiah; we know it was a long trip up, but we appreciated the fact they came to spend some time with us!

Mother's Day Brunch

Sunday we went to church and then came home to host Mother's Day Brunch (it's officially a tradition now that it's been two years running).

The table was set, the girls made personalized place cards and ladybugs out of strawberries!

Eric & Lauren's new addition (Watson) joined us and Ava wasn't so sure if she enjoyed having another dog on her territory. We are abundantly lacking pictures mostly because we were all keeping our eye on the dogs!!

All sitting down for brunch!!

Love this picture - a generational talk!

Lauren (my sister-in-law) celebrated her first "Mother's Day" as the proud momma of Watson!

I had hoped to get a picture with my grandma, mom and myself and a picture with me and the girls, but it didn't happen this year. I am looking forward to hosting brunch next year. It is always a special time to celebrate the moms!!

I hope you all had a wondeful Mother's Day!

A picture update

We have been busy, not much exciting to report so here is a few snapshots of things happening in our world:



A blog to come -Edamame Beans!


Syrah was in a play at school (only picture I got - have tons of video)


Molly out on a leash in the back yard.


Ava & Molly are becoming quite friendly.

Sadie's been very busy with some projects.

May Day came and went!

And even more projects... projects have been big in our house the last few weeks.