Sailing with captain Ron

After our anniversary, we took a trip on the boat with uncle Ron and aunt Jeanette. The girls had fun driving the boat with their crazy uncle. At the end of the trip, however, miss Elena slipped and fell on the deck and punctured a hole right through the area under her lip. She healing up just fine. Of course, none of us was surprised by the event. If that kid can just make it to 4, we'll be OK!!

Baby Judah is born

Emma's best friend Emma has a new baby brother! This is Judah. We are so glad to have him home. He was born with some lung trouble and jaundice. But he is doing very well now. Welcome Judah. Your name means "praise" and we praise God for you!

Ross and I had a wonderful time together in Poulsbo celebrating our 11th anniversary. We are happy to report that we're still hot for each other and really enjoy alone time. :-) We stayed at the Manor Farm Inn - a great B&B on a farm. Our room was attached to the "drawing room", which had complimentary sherry, homemade cookies, a fireplace and board games - all of which we took advantage of. We were also given some fresh dahlias and a Happy Anniversary card from the innkeeper. Dinner was right down the road from the B&B at a cool spot called Molly Ward. It's an old barn that's been renovated into a very eclectic and charming restaurant. They have gorgeous gardens outside (see slide show) where you can sip wine and walk around. All the produce at dinner is organic and comes straight from the garden. And there are only 3 things on the menu, because the meat is ordered fresh every other day. I had crab and Ross had fillet mignon. Yummy! We even got a pedicure together the next day (I've convinced Ross that he enjoyed it). Thanks to mom and dad for watching the girls and taking them to the Puyallup fair again! We love you. And thank you to Ross for 11 wonderful years. God has blessed me immensely with the gift of you.

Our 11th Anniversary Poulsbo getaway

Check out my Slide Show!

The blessing of a sister

I look at these photos and tear up thinking about how blessed these girls are to have each other. It makes me think of how fortunate I am to have my own sisters. They are relationships to treasure for sure. Emma and Elena have their spats like any siblings, but mostly, they are learning to love and forgive and appreciate their differences (and my are they different - all the way down to their skin tone!). They truly enjoy being together. It is so fun watching them develop this precious bond. Thank you God for the gift of sisters.

Doin' the Puyallup

We had fun doing the traditional Puyallup Fair on Sunday. We went with our friends The Bogatajs. Julianna introduced Emma to the "big girl rides." She even went on the HUGE wooden roller coaster with mommy! She said she liked it "medium" but didn't want to go again. Going with tradition, we ate a huge onion burger, a turkey leg, a scone and elephant ear. And nobody puked!

First day of school

Emma is now officially a first grader!! She is going to a new school this year - Hosanna Christian. We couldn't be happier. Her teacher, Mrs. Hobbs is AMAZING. She loves God, loves those kids, and is an incredible teacher. There are 6 first graders and 5 second graders in Emma's class. It's a bit Little House on the Prairie-esque. Emma is now in a uniform, which we all think is pretty cool. Now the only thing we argue over is who does Emma's hair in the morning! Emma had fun taking some "first day of school" pictures. I'm going to attempt to put them in a slide show like my cool sister Shannon has figured out how to do. I'm too technically challenged to do it at the moment. But here are a few shots to give you a feel for the first day. It's going to be a fabulous year!

Point Defiance with Jodi and Abby

Elena had fun at the zoo today trying to figure out what animals lived in the drains. Check out the video! (My first video post) We enjoyed the day with Jodi and our new cousin Abby - who clearly did not know what to think about the carousel. I think she enjoyed it much more with that plug in her mouth. She seemed to enjoy the fish too!