Things We Love...These Days

1.  Football!  Especially those Seahawks.  The kids squeal when they learn that it's a "watching football in the basement with daddy" night.

2.  Mommy's class!  I have a great group of kids this year and am enjoying my Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays with them until Baby Peanut arrives.  This was an unplanned twin day that I had to record via my new iPhone.  :)

3.  Writing Love Notes!  Gracie is quite the writer, and we are so pleased that these are some of her first written words.

4.  Imaginative Play!  The kids are building houses and campers in the living room, making toy stores in the basement, and going fishing off the end of our bed.  It's so fun to watch them play together.

5.  New Clothes!  Or should I say, Thursday mornings when both kids are in K and PreS and Mommy can shop on her own!  I'm not sure who loves these mornings more...

6.  Silliness with Guests!  We loved having Auntie Cassie all to ourselves this week for dinner..and we were excited to have our Whitworth students over for a brunch last Sunday.  Both occasions struck a silly bone in our son and we're finding he's quite the ham when he has a new audience.

 7.  Guitar before bedtime!  Daddy's been playing more recently and the kids LOVE it.  As do I.

8.  Hide the Beetle.  Everyone has been getting into hiding this crazy creature in surprising places around the house.  Daddy's toothpaste drawer, Gracie's pillow, inside Joshua's slipper, on the bathroom soap dispenser...you never know where this little guy will show up next!  (And watching the kids get sneaky cracks me right up!)

Happy Birthday, Aunt Angela!

 Thanks for turning a year older, Ang!

We are always looking for a good reason to have cake.  :)

And you're a GREAT reason.

The Big Kid Room

We are starting to get ready for "Baby Peanut."  All of Josh's things have been moved into Grace's, making it The Big Kid Room!  We moved the kids' mirrors and made Gracie letters to match Joshy's...

And we had to fill the wall, so we thought there was nothing better than to cover it with pictures of treasured friends and family!

Now on to The Baby Room!

Miss Megan...A Year Older

How could I forget?!?  Megan turned another year older...at the end of August!  And we were all jealous at her Labor Day birthday party that we were all sweating outside...too many of us have winter birthdays in this family!!!  I had the privilege of seeing Megan on her LAST day of seven, and her mom was so sweet to send me a picture of her first moments of eight.  I think she looks older...what do you think?

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!!!  We know EIGHT will be GREAT!

Spokefest, 2013

Jeff participated in Spokefest this year!  He completed the 47-mile ride with our neighbor Hank and one of Hank's friends.  The route started downtown and went through 7-Mile and back.  Each of these kids were waiting for their Daddy to come riding around the corner to the finish line...and we waited forever!  We knew there had to be some sort of holdup...

 They finally zoomed in!

 ...and this is why we were waiting.  Jeff had a flat.  "Making memories," G'ma Trudy would say...

The food trucks made the whole ride (wait, for us!) worth it!  Great Mexican food and then dreamy ice cream from The Scoop!

Apparently Gracie was not amused with the wait?  Man, that's a scowl!  Good job, Daddy!!!  Love that you got to "live the dream!"  :)

Soccer Days

This last spring Gracie played soccer for the first time and really liked it, so we decided to try it this fall.  She's on her friend, Kelsey's team with some other Meadow Ridge girls--Kaylee, Kylie, Kelsey, Kiera, Gracie and Grace.  How's that for a stuttering set of parent supporters?  We are lucky to have Kelsey's parents, Bryan and Susie, coaching her team.

She's already had extra fans at the games:  G'ma Colleen and Papa Scott, and last week Keyara, her babysitter that lives up the street, came to watch her play.

Gracie is a great hustler!  She loves to keep up with the ball herd!  The aggressive nature will probably come in later--right now she's just so nice she doesn't want to take the ball away from anyone.  That would be rude!  :)

Joshy's First Day of Preschool

He's been waiting to be big enough...and it finally came!  This is Joshy's first day of preschool picture! He got to have G'ma Colleen take him on the first day, and he was ready, thanks to the Ice Cream Social the night before...  (Is it just Mom, or is this kid simply EDIBLE!??!)

And of course it wouldn't be US if we didn't have the silly pic...

Uncle Tom

Uncle Tom Weber

October 4, 1947- September 2, 2013

My uncle Tom passed away early this month.  Though we didn't want to say goodbye to him, his cancer made its final attack over the summer, and now God has won Tom's final battle.

[Heaven.  Even cancer can't take our eternity away...]

Uncle Tom was my mom's oldest brother.  Eldest of seven children, he "took his role seriously," using the words of my other uncle Jerry.  He was the organizer--planning out the roads and cities on the brothers' dirt pile in his early years, and organizing enormous family reunions in his later years--and was gifted with details--taking meticulous care of his '67 Corvette and building large dollhouses to scale, complete with tiny pictures of family members hanging as portraits.  An engineer from the beginning!  Although he and Diane had no children of their own, he was claimed by all 14 of us nieces and nephews as "ours."  He always showed special interest in what we were doing in life, and gifted us with amazing gifts using his talents in woodworking--mirrors, jewelry and fly fishing boxes, cradles, children's toys and cabinets.

Tom loved family.  Usually the first to arrive at our gatherings, he and Diane stayed until late, many times bringing gifts for the host and anyone else that they had been thinking about lately.  Ever the card-shark, he was always up for a game of "Up and Down the River," or "Ten-Point Pitch." (And was very patient to teach us all how to play!)

And I will never see another Thanksgiving turkey and not think of our carver?  Do other people know how to do this?!?  Looks like Jerry is a good apprentice...and is Pat taking notes?  :)

God gifted us with time as He took Tom.  After 17 years of fighting this disease, Tom's tumors finally stopped responding to treatments this last year.  Finally in June, he went home with the help of Hospice.  And family.  Diane was the best caregiver anyone could ask for, and it was beautiful to see all of my mom's siblings continually come alongside her to assist.  We each had time to see Tom and visit with him before the cancer took over.  What a gift.

One of the stories I will never forget is when Tom woke up one night in July or August, when his cancer was really progressing and he wasn't responding as much, and told his Hospice nurse that he had just been introduced to God.  In the next breath he asked, "Why did I have to come back?"  How amazing and unimaginable God's glory must be, to only see a glimpse and immediately want to stay forever!  Perhaps he came back simply to tell us that.  "Better is one day in Your courts..."  :)

His funeral was a beautiful celebration of his life, and a time for all of us to come together to remember him.  I won't forget the bells that rang at his funeral--newly installed in the church after Tom's research and selection--and the many people who came from miles around to honor him.  We already miss him...but are so glad he's done with his battle.  Forever he'll be coming back into our minds and memories...

Kindergarten?!?

Here she is!  All ready to walk to Kindergarten on her first day of school!  How in the world did this happen?!?

We take a picture by the hydrangea each year...but this year we don't know why it isn't blooming.  Any botanists want to explain this strange phenomena?  Good thing that dress has enough bloom in it!

Gracie was very excited.  She did tell me that she was "going to be shy for awhile."  And indeed she was.  Checking everything out with her eyes, staying close to me.  I finally told her that I had to leave with the other parents so she could learn, and she shyly found some girls to play with--after Mommy and Joshy hugs, of course.  And even though I took Kleenex in my pocket in case "Mommy had happy tears" I blinked them away and made it through like a big kid.  :)

And when we picked her up 2 1/2 hours later she told us all about reading, "The Kissing Hand," a book about a raccoon who was a little nervous to go to school.  And recess time, of course.  :)  This is her teacher, Mrs. Badeaux in the picture above.  She is one sassy silver-haired teacher!  Gracie will have a great year with her.

Joshy had to "take a bweak" on the walk home on this rock.  When I asked him the night before what in the world we were going to do without Gracie in the morning he replied with shrugged shoulders:  "I don't know...maybe...celebrate?"  What a stinker!  :)  He did come up to me with Gracie's doll telling me that she was crying for Gracie, her mommy.  I think deep down he was missing her, too.  :)

And that afternoon I had to go into school for my Meet & Greet.  Whom should walk through the door but Brooklyn, who was there to meet her kindergarten teacher.  What a sweet girl!  I had to take a picture to show the kids.

We met Bridgett, our new babysitter, today!  The kids spent the afternoon with her while I went in to work.  I was relieved to hear that the kids didn't want to come home with dad when he picked them up at the end of the afternoon.

Ah, it feels good to be on this side of so many transitions.  We are so blessed.  All the time.

'Twas the Night Before School Starts...

We spent Labor Day getting set for school to start the next day.  Fred Meyer didn't have what Gracie was looking for for her first day of school outfit--this mom was pulling her hair out!--so her dear ol' Dad took her shopping during Mommy/Joshy nap time.  They were successful!  What a great shopper this daddy is!  :)

G'ma Dianne Days...

 Our last day hugs at G'ma Dianne's wrecked us all.  Darn you, kindergarten!

She's watched our kids since they were babies...we spent the afternoon reminiscing on how in the world Dianne did that!  We were so blessed to have 4 days of meetings in August where we got to spend more time with Dianne and Brooklyn before our new school routine started.

 Goofies.

 And then Gracie got the phone and took a few pics for memories' sake...  :)

It was so hard to close this chapter of our lives!  We keep saying that we'll plan some play dates so that we can say later instead of not again...but it feels a bit like we've lost a g'ma and a cousin in our lives.  How blessed we are to have had such great people in our lives.  Sigh.  This school business is hard on the heart...

Gracie's Kindergarten "Round-Up"

On August 27 the reality that our girl is growing up hit home...hard!  :)  We went to meet Mrs. Badeaux, Gracie's Kindergarten teacher!  We got to put a poster together that represents Gracie...

Love the darting glance here...Gracie loved the kitchen area in her classroom, but kept taking in everything with her eyes...  I was teary, which completely caught me off guard--where did that come from?  I could hardly choke out Gracie's name when we met her teacher at the door!

She looks unsure here, but I am sure she'll be fine!  She's a bit like Harriet the Spy, taking in all the details with her senses and recording them for later conversations...  :)

I almost posted the picture of her class roster that her daddy took with his phone, later that night at the Parent Meeting.  The news that had Jeff perplexed was that Adam Morrison's daughter is in Gracie's class!  Jeff's dreaming of shooting hoops with this ex-GU player who played in the NBA for a spell...