September

So many wonderful memories for our family!  We started out with a windy ferry ride ( we never tire of these) while catching up with some dear friends from our last ward. Thanks for planning a whole summer’s worth of get-togethers, Natalie!

What is it about kids and dancing in the wind?

Lunch on the beach with Leah.

Kindergarten. Ethan (and I) have been looking forward to kindergarten for a long time (me, a very long time). We moved to a great school district and Ethan has a fabulous teacher, Mrs. Cumins – I’m so impressed by her; she has such a sweet manner with the kids. Two other boys from our ward are in Ethan’s class. The only one not happy about the new deal is Sienna. When Ethan gets on the bus everyday, she says with a frown, “I miss my E-fan.” Too cute.

9/8/2010 - First day of school. No separation anxiety for him!

I let him ride the kindergarten bus to school – he loves the bus.

Waiting at the bus stop.

Julie’s Birthday

I know a lot of people find it annoying when a certain person (okay, me) is always bragging about their spouse. But really, when you are married to someone like Jeff, how can you not do just a little bragging here and there? Seriously, Jeff is a wonderful man. Every birthday has been wonderful since being married to Jeff and this birthday was no different.

We went to downtown Seattle and went on a cruise around Lake Union on an old-time paddle boat (the only operating one this side of the Mississippi River). What made the cruise even better is that my bargain hunting man got us tickets for super cheap, the kids were free and the weather was amazing!

Snuggling with daddy

The house boats on Lake Union

Ethan and Sienna can never get enough of Daddy (neither can I)

We went under a draw bridge (this was Ethan’s “excited face”)

Near the end of the cruise, there was a show with old-time dancing and songs. Sienna, never one to be shy, joined along.

We finished the evening at Pike’s Place for dinner and flowers then swung by Trophy cupcakes for dessert (Jeff also got a great deal on 1 dozen cupcakes- thanks handsome!)

Sienna’s Triple Chocolate Cupcake. Why did I waste it on a 3 year old? I’m claiming that one next year.

Summer Wrap-Up

Its been such a fun summer for our family! We’ve kept Ethan busy with swimming, soccer, gymnastics, tee-ball, preschool and Taekwondo. You might be thinking, “Sheesh, lady! Don’t you know you are not supposed to over-schedule your kids?”  Well, any of you who know Ethan know that you can’t over-schedule this kid. He’s a busy little guy with boundless energy. When we weren’t in class, we were at parks, beaches, going on bike rides and ferry rides.  We had so much fun and I’m so grateful for the time I’ve been able to spend with my fabulous kids!

 

Sienna –our sweet, but rough and tumble little girl!

Clayton has such a happy, peaceful disposition. If you make eye contact with him, he’ll give you a big toothless grin and start kicking his legs. Melts my heart.

4th of July and California trip

So we have a little catching up to do… We’ve been so busy I’ve slacked on blogging, but better late than never!

In spite of the damp weather, we hade a wonderful 4th. We had a few activities for the kids, and they were surprisingly well behaved that day (sigh).

We did a giant American flag with chalk on our patio and talked about its symbolism.

We had a yummy BBQ

Chocolate covered strawberries…yum!

Red, white and blue popsicles

Firecracker desserts, which lead us to…

Our trip to California

The family reunion for Jeff’s side of the family was canceled this year, but Jeff had already scheduled the time off. We started brain storming and decided to see my family in California. We’ve been talking about it for years, but had been putting it off because it is a ton of work to travel with kids! Three kids 5 and under on an airplane or in a car? Yikes! We found some decently priced tickets  and a deal on admission for Disneyland and we were off! It was so wonderful to see my grandparents again and to let the kids meet their great-grandparents.

It reminds me of those Visa commercials:

Airline tickets:$$$

Rental car:$$

Food:$$

These pictures: Priceless!

That’s three and a half month old Clayton grasping 96 year old Grandpa Dietrich’s hand.

Priceless. 

Grandpa later said it was the highlight of his year. That made it all worth it.

And of course, we visited Disneyland and California Adventure too!

 

 

Balboa Beach

These are just to show off Jeff’s photography skills. I’m proud of my man!