Thank you Gramda!

The girls love their new colorful balls- all 500 of them!

Molly loves her new temporary condo, too!

Karina's Pledge

"I pledge allegiance to the flag
Of the many states in America
And to the public
Where the princess stands
All about God
With liberties and just this for all."

Jadyn's Artwork

Jadyn drew this picture at school this week - it's a monkey in an evergreen tree. Great job!

"Do the Puyallup"

Last Saturday we headed down to "do the Puyallup" - the annual Puyallup fair. Grammy & Grandpa Foree came with us. It was a perfect day. We got there early enough in the morning that the crowds hadn't started forming yet - it was opening weekend, so we knew it would get busy quickly.

We saw all sorts of farm animals - cows, many kinds of sheep, goats, pigs - and lots of baby pigs!, horses, chickens, and other animals.

They had a petting area, too - so the girls got to pet all sorts of animals. We at scones, hamburgers, and ice cream.

The kids loved the rides - they went on a giant slide, a shark-airplane, a fire engine that went up and down in a clock-like motion, a carousel, and drove a car together around a track. We saw clowns on horses, clowns on flying carpets, roller skates, and stilts.

By dinnertime the crowds had arrived, we ran out of ride tickets, and our legs were tired from all the walking, so we called it a day!

Close...

Jadyn: "Look! There goes a jeep!"
Daddy: "Which car? That one?" pointing...
Jadyn: "Yeah, right there"
Daddy: "You're right. It looks a bit like a jeep, but it's actually a Honda Element"
Jadyn: "What's an Element?"
Daddy: "That kind of car is called an Element. Just like our friends Dan & Davia have an Element."
Karina: "Davia has an orange Honda Elephant"
Jadyn: laughing... "Not an elephant. An Element!"

Karina's first day!

Karina started preschool yesterday. She will be going on Thursdays and Fridays in the morning. I wish I could say that it went completely smoothly and she was as excited as Jadyn about going to school, but not quite the story.She does like her teachers and is excited about the things that are there, but she is not 100% sold on the idea of being there yet. She spent almost the whole first day completely silent and not wanting to try anything- even the playground. Silly girl! Here she is looking in before class started. I bet this would have been cute to see from the inside, too!

Karina really not wanting to be at school without us there with her, but humoring us enough for a picture of some sort. :o)

The good news:
Today, her second day, did go a bit better. We came with a new pink flamingo school bag equipped with notes from home and we arranged to come early to class so that I could talk to the teachers a little and see if Karina would warm up any easier to the day ahead. I am very thankful for such patient, understanding teachers that really took the time to listen and learn how to best interact with our Karina. It is very obvious that this is the school she needs to be going to right now.
By the end of class today, she had tried coloring, playing on the playground, playdough, and even a little painting with a long brush the teacher got out just for her. (If you know our Karina, you know she does NOT like anything that gets her dirty!) Her teacher, Miss Amy, was surprised at the amount of talking that Karina does when she gets warmed up.

The first thing out of Karina's mouth when we picked her up: "I don't have to be shy around Miss Amy now. She is not needing shy from me anymore."

Hopefully, things will keep getting better from here. We will keep you updated!

First day of School!

Our big girl is officially a Kindergartener now. Jadyn started her first day today. She was very excited! She and her friend Skye posed for a picture before heading out in the morning.

Here she is waiting outside her classroom for the bell to ring and her teacher, Mrs. Roddy, to open the door and let the kids in.

Here she is sitting at her table as Mommy and Daddy wave goodbye.

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It was a very fun day. Her class spent time exploring the campus - finding out where the library is, where the playground is, and where the nurses station is. They spent time reading books, coloring, talking, learning, singing songs, eating snack, taking recess, and all sorts of other fun stuff that you do on the first day of Kindergarten.

A final weekend away

With school starting this week for both girls, we decided to spend our last summer weekend at the beach. We were able to steal away for one night and two days down at beautiful Ocean Shores. We left Friday afternoon and made it in time to eat dinner in our hotel room (crock-pots are a wonderful thing!).

We tried to sneak onto the beach before sunset and enjoy a little playing, but the wind was blowing so strong that the girls were both freezing and getting blown away. After about 5 minutes, they had both had enough and we headed back to the hotel and watched the rest of a beautiful sunset.

The next day we were able to spend some time swimming in the hotel pool, and then spent the better part of the day playing on the beach. The wind was still strong enough to fly our kite, but much calmer. And with the sun out, it was just a perfect day. We built a sand castle, flew the kite, ran around a bunch in the sand, got our feet sandy, ate ice cream, and had a great time as a family. What a great way to say goodbye to the summer!

As we headed home Saturday evening, both kids conked out in the car - all spent from a great two days away.