I am so excited that Stella is able to go to Bible Study Fellowship. Sydney went for 2 years with her Nana in Portland and learned so much about God. I can't wait to hear all that Stella is going to learn!
Today after Bible Study Fellowship, we were walking to the car and I was asking her about her class. I knew that they sang songs and hymns from when Syd went so I asked her if they sang any songs. This was her reply:

Stella- Uh huh, holy holy holy.
Me- You sang holy holy holy?
Stella- Yes, holy poly poly......

Words on the screen can't describe her cute little voice trying to sing this song in tune. I can't wait to hear in Stella's words what she learns about God.

Sydney and Papa at her first car show.- 2006

Conversation with Sydney while walking out of Trader Joes to the car.

Sydney- Mom, look at tha cool truck! ( pointing to a hot rod truck in the parking lot)

Me- Wow, that is sweet!

Sydney- No Mom, that is RAD!

We see the light!

We are very thankful for the place we get to call home. Yes, you did remember correctly. I was not very excited about this house when we first saw it. But I have grown to love it and am so thankful for it every day. One of the great things about it is less than a 100 yards away through the trees and down a small hill is the climbing wall. Throughout the summer Sydney would go down to the climbing wall in the afternoon and truly climb her little heart out. This has been so much fun for us to watch. The very first day she only went about a foot off the ground. Now she is doing true climbing moves and ringing the bell at the top of the climbs. Since the summer family camp season is over, she has been really missing the climbing wall. So we decided to take her and Stella climbing on real rock. We headed to Castle Rock State Park. Nate and I climbed here when we lived here before. We weren't so sure what was in store for us going back with kids.

It was such a great day, Nate and I are still talking about how much fun we had as a family. We all got a little climbing in. Even Stella put a harness on and got to about my shoulders before she was ready to get down. Sydney wanted to climb and climb and climb. She could not get enough. "More more more" she chanted. We were so proud of the both of them ,They did a great job hiking and exploring and just hanging out climbing. We have seem the light at the end of the tunnel. More climbing trips are in our future!

unfortunatly, my camera had little to no battery life left. So these are the only pictures we have of the climbing and Stella's big debute is blurry. Boo! next time check battery before leaving!

Sydney Mondays (a day late)

Life through Sydney's eyes.

There is pretty much art going on in our house every hour of the daylight hours. My girls both love to do art. Sydney has really been into drawing. There other day we were listening to some instrumental music and she said that it sounded like winter to her. The next song came on and she jumped up and started to draw what she heard. I love how she is so creative. Her grandpa has given her some books on how to draw animals and funny people. She has really enjoyed drawing from these books. I think they have really helped her learn about spacial aspects and drawing things to size. Here is her latest drawing session with dad. She will work on these drawings with you for a good hour. It has been so much fun for nate and I to be able to do this with her.
Stella has been into painting. She loves it. She gets very serious about her paintings and she paints with intensity. She holds her brush just right and very delicately. Just like any 2 year old, she usually paints more than the paper.

Sydney mondays

Life through Sydney's eyes. Self Portrait.

Green Thumbs

We tried our hand at a little bit of gardening this summer. This was my first time ever having a garden. I grew some strawberries when I was a kid, but besides that this was new territory for me. We had a lot of fun picking out seeds, planting seeds, making plant name tags and now EATING the small but yummy bounty of veggies!

We have three boxes. We planted tomatoes, 2 kinds of cucumbers, carrots, onions, beets, peas (which were eaten by a deer, boooo) peppers, cilantro, basil, and sage. I think we went a little over board in our variety. The boxes were a bit crowded and the little hands that put the seeds in the soil didn't care much for the spacing guidelines. So we ended up with pretty short and small veggies. Stella was a little disappointed when she pulled out the beets. Not quite like the beets at the farmers market.

But we all had fun planting and picking. It even proves that if you allow your kids to take part in their food they are more likely to eat it. And boy did Sydney surprise us. One night for dinner she ate raw carrots and raw beet slices. FOR DINNER!! no gagging. just "mmmmmm's" . That is proof enough for me to want to make our whole yard into a veggie garden. Maybe next year???

Sydney- " mom, I don't want to go to college."

Me- " You don't? Why not?"

Sydney- "because at college you have to have breakfast there and you don't get to spend time with your family in the morning."

Me- " You can go to college and still have breakfast with us here at home."

Sydney- " YOU CAN?! Okay, I want to do that."

Thankfully we were able to hang on to summer a little longer than others around here. Sydney's preschool doesn't start till Monday. I am excited to be back in a routine again, but also sad to be back in a routine again. It is such a bitter sweet feeling. I have LOVED every minute of summer here. It has felt like a vacation. I wonder if it will feel like that ever year? We have had so much fun. I have loved seeing the girls grow to understand how to play together. They have so much fun together. And yet on the flip side, they have really learned how to push each others buttons and have really had some strong feelings for each other.

But summer is coming to a close. I have had to explain for about 2 weeks now to the girls why the pool, climbing wall and craft house have been closed. They have fully embraced the summer camp kid persona.

Here are some memories from this summer

We will miss you summer and can't wait till next year!

Sydney Mondays

Life through Sydney's eyes. Her favorite cars. Hot pink and Hot red.

The Boardwalk

Dollar night at the boardwalk!!! We were so excited to ride the rides for a dollar each. The girls faces lit up when we told them our evenings activity.

And they jumped up when we told them we were going with Ocean and Selah. Sydney and Stella love playing and hanging out with those girls. There was lots of cheering, chanting, wheeeee-ing and smiling from those four girls. It was really fun to watch.

Sydney's favorite rides were the swings and the Ferris wheel. She wasn't so sure she wanted to go on the swings. " Mom, I kinda want to go on the swings, but I am really scared that it will be too fast." We were so proud that she did it and LOVED it.

Sydney loved the Ferris Wheel, but Stella did not. She cried most of the time and cried for momma!

Stella loved the planes and the helicopter. I love the look on Stella's face in this picture. She was SO excited to be on the rides.

It was not only $1 rides it was $1 cotton candy!Unfortunately, I can not go on most of the rides there. Just looking at them make my stomach turn. So poor Nate had to go on them with the girls. By this time in the evening he had almost had it.

It was a great night with new memories made. We are so excited that we got to share it with a great family.

L O V E

Absolutely in love with my family.

I feel so blessed to be a part of their lives.