Finally...

Just want to let you know that we finally have more updated pictures on our Family Photos link. Go check it out...

Student of the Week

Jadyn was honored by her teacher last week when she was chosen as "Student of the Week." Teacher's pick one student for showing a positive attitude, good behavior, and good work. The winner receives an award certificate as well as having their name announced over the intercom by the principal during the daily announcements. She was very surprised and excited!

Way to go, Jadyn! We're very proud of you!

Grand Prix Time!

This weekend was Grand Prix weekend at our church. For any who don't know what that is, kids use a pine block of wood to create a car of their own design, put wheels on it, and race it with other kids on a long track.

Jadyn and Karina were both very exacted to make their cars. We wanted to make sure they were the ones picking out their designs, so we allowed them to choose what they wanted and then tried our best to help them make it happen.

Jadyn has been very excited about the "Pledge of Allegiance" at school, so she wanted to make a flag car, and she wanted it to be a truck like our friend Steve has. Karina wanted a "Lightning McQueen" race car, but - like any girl would - she wanted it to be pink and have rainbows on it.




We worked hard. I (Mark) worked with the kids to come up with the shape of the cars, we cut them together, sanded them down, chiseled Karina's car to make it rounded like Lightning, and primed them to be ready to paint. Julie then stepped in and spent time painting with each girl - both of whom were very particular about their paint jobs. The final product turned out great and the girls were very proud.

On race day, when their numbers were called, they girls got to go up and set them in place on the racetrack and then go wait by the finish line. Karina even told me at one point, "Daddy. Don't come with me. I can do it by myself." I felt so rejected and yet so proud at the same time (kidding).


Both did great - Karina even won one of her races! Jadyn came in second once, and third lots of times. But her proudest moment came at the end when they handed out trophies. The fastest racers won trophies, the best designs, and then there was a special trophy for the "Director's Choice" of cars - the organizer of the race chooses one car as best design of his choice - and he picked Jadyn's car. She was so excited - she ran up and received her trophy in front of the whole crowd! At the end, the girls even got to pose by a real race car!

But the best part of all was having fun working on the cars and seeing them race. We're already talking about next year...!

Our Liberty Bell!

We have officially completed another season of Liberty Bells Cheer Squad. It has been fun to see Jadyn grow and change so much over the last 3 seasons of doing it. This one was the best so far for her. They ended the season with a special parent performance (which was really a dress rehearsal), the main competition against all of the other 6 cities in our area, and then one final performance as the entertainment for a fancy dinner party in Maple Valley. At the performance they earned the "excellent award" once again, which is 3rd place. They did a great job and had a very fun season! (You can see more pictures and highlights on our Family Photos link.)

100% Girls!

"You just have to see how cute and cool we are!"

Our girls never cease to surprise me with the things they do and say. They were practicing their cheer routine around the house today. Jadyn has a cheer competition coming up next weekend that we are all very excited for. Look for the pictures and details to come soon!

'Tis the season

It seems that we repeat ourselves each year around this time. School starts up and our kids excitedly go and come back with new friends, new homework, and new colds.

This year has been no different. We're finally on the up swing now, but we've endured a few colds and even the flu over the last month. Karina was hit so hard by the flu that she ended up in Urgent Care and almost the hospital due to her dehydration. We battled with her poor little body a bit and finally were able to keep some fluids in and begin to build up her system again. It's always amazing to me how fast we go downhill with something like that and yet how incredibly long it takes to make up lost ground and get our bodies back to 100%.

Julie has fought through a few colds, too, which is no easy task when you're a pregnant mom already taking care of an extra little one inside of you. But she's battled well and hopefully out of the woods now. She even found the energy in the middle of her cold to perform a lip sync to a song at church with two other gals during a MOPS fundraiser dinner. It was hilarious! They danced and acted out motions to "The Mom Song" by the band "Go Fish."

I, Mark, have seemed to avoid the colds and flu, but unfortunately hurt my lower back at work and have missed a few weeks now. My nemisis has been making 4-5 trips a week to Seattle or Issaquah for doctor and physical therapy visits. Of all the pains, it seems sitting (especially in a car) is one of the worst - there's the drawback to living so far outside the city - long drives to good doctors. But I go back in Tuesday for another update with my doctor to review my MRI, and hopefully the news will be good and I'll be able to get back to work quickly.

That's the quick update. Hope you're all enjoying the beautiful fall leaves like we are!

They were so good we used them twice

Halloween was a blast this year, as always. The kids had a great time. When it was time to decide what they wanted to dress up as, we tried and tried to suggest different options. But the kids' minds were already made up - they wanted to be the same things they were last year.

So Karina was a tiger and Jadyn was a puppy. We went over to a friends' house and all the kids from the neighborhood banded together to trick-or-treat as a bunch.

Jadyn took to it right away, being a pro and all from her many, many years of experience. But Karina wasn't so sure at first. At first she wanted to go home, then she would finally go up to the first house as long as I was holding her hand. The second house was a little easier - she went with Jadyn and Cameron (another friend). And as she walked down from house #2 she had the biggest smile on her face and proudly announced - "Daddy - look! They gave me more candy!"

Every house after that was great - and every time she walked back down the driveway, she again proudly proclaimed, "They gave me candy, too! I really like trick-or-treating!"

We had fun with friends, and the kids came home with more candy than they could eat in a whole year. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, yet...

Carving our pumpkins