First Days

It seems that our door is a little smaller this year than it was last year!

(At least from the first day of preschool to the first day of kindergarten.)

It's Been a Year...

...no! not since I've last blogged.  We've been in Washington for a year now.  I'll work on some of our reflections of the MANY blessings we've experienced in the last year....soon!  For now, I just wanted to get this one started so that I can post about our exciting day coming up tomorrow--Anna's 1st day of Kindergarten!!

I Love Being a Mommy

Happy Easter

Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed!

Spring Break

Anna was on Spring Break last week.  We counted today's outing part of that break, so now I'm ready to blog our adventures.  We kept very busy!  Here are tons of pictures from our outings and activities:

As in many other parts of the country, we are so ready to have spring arrive in all its glory (instead of seeing snippets of it here and there).  We had rain and hail this morning! Thankfully that was just for a little while.  We had plenty of sun even though it was still quite cool.

 Last Monday was rainy and cold, so we were looking for an indoor adventure.  Our destination for the day was the Seattle Library.  The architecture was awesome.  We were advised to go up to the 10th floor to see the view from the top of the library.  Awesome!  What a cool building.

 Oh yeah, they had books, too.

The children's section of this library was spectacular!  It was roughly the size of a small town!  I could have spent all day there.  (Look for a Flat Stanley post coming soon.)

 This is a little out of order.  Last Friday while Matt had a meeting in Seattle, Anna and I tagged along to have breakfast with him and then hopped on the bus to go to the aquarium.  They had some special activities that day featuring the fur seals.  Kids got to experience how the seals live and play and learn about what they eat.  It was a lot of fun.

 Anna got to be a researcher here.  She had to catch a seal, measure it, give it medicine, tag it and then release it back into the wild.

 In another area, she got to dress up as a seal.  It was nice to have some new things at the aquarium and get a hands-on learning experience.  We learned a lot about fur seals!

 We found this fur seal in the gift shop.  Isn't she cute!

 While we were waiting for Matt to pick us up, we played outside the aquarium.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the fountain was going.  We had tons of fun soaking up the sun and being outside.

 Meet the Fremont Troll.  After Matt picked us up, we headed over to the Fremont area of Seattle.  This troll was built under a bridge by some community artists.  It's made of cement and sand and is VERY large!  Anna was a little afraid of it at first.  She had fun running around him, then slowly got closer and closer.  After a little while...

 ...she was brave enough to go climb on top of his head.

 Friends from church invited us to join them overnight at a cabin on Orcas Island.  It was so beautiful there.

We arrived in time to do some tidepooling near the cabin.  We love to look around for the animals (but we're not as adventurous as our friends who weren't content to just look and take pictures, but reached in and grabbed the fish, eels, and other creatures we saw!)

 We went to Mt. Constitution in the morning.  It was such a wonderful sunny day and the view was awesome!

 Later we hiked around Cascade Lake.  Anna did really well hiking....

 ...most of the way around the lake.  She got a little help now and then from Daddy.

 Anna was very happy to spend some time on the beach playing in the sand and rocks before we had to go home.  We are so thankful for our friends and their generosity!

We did spend a few minutes at home now and then as well.  Anna decided her puppies needed to eat in the living room.  We had some time for some crafts, too.

 

 Saturday ended up being really busy.  It seemed that if there was something really cool to do it was scheduled for Saturday.  Anna went to a birthday party at a gym.  She LOVED doing all the activities especially since she was able to do them with friends. 

 Yeah, chocolate cake! 

Happy Birthday, Jaelyn!

 Right after the birthday party we headed to church for a Family Easter Celebration.  The kids got to hunt for eggs and play games and then helped tell the Easter story by doing a play entitled "Twas the Week Before Easter".

 Anna got to be an angel in the play. 

 When the weather is nice, we do try to get outside.  We've been noticing lots of parks we want to explore.  Yesterday afternoon we went to Luther Burbank Park on Mercer Island.  Anna ran most of the afternoon, then almost fell asleep on the way home.

Today we headed to Seattle Center.  After the brief rain and hail we had this morning, we enjoyed a sunny day.  Our destination today was the Space Needle!  We've been wanting to go up to the top since we moved here.  We had so much fun and really enjoyed the cool Seattle views! 

We ended our time in Seattle by the fountain in the middle of the Seattle Center.  Anna loved running around trying not to get too wet.  It was a great way to end a very busy and fun week! 

Happy Birthday, Anna!

Anna turned 5 yesterday!  It was pretty exciting for all of us.  We're very excited to be parents of a 5 year old.  As much as we wonder how in the world this could have happened so quickly and as much as we've loved every stage Anna's been through (ok, maybe loved is not quite the right word for every stage), we are eager to see what God has is store for her this year and feel so blessed to be helping her through it.
Now onto the celebrating!

 Yep!  She's 5!

 Anna was very excited that she got to open a few presents before school.

 

Then she was treated to french toast for breakfast.

 We even were able to sneak in a few more presents before leaving for school.  She doesn't normally dress like this for school, but Anna decided on this special day that she needed to wear a fancy dress.

 After school, we took Anna and her friend Eva to Red Robin (where's Anna has celebrated all her birthdays) and then to a Children's Museum for the afternoon.  They had so much fun and played hard all afternoon.

 This year's cake--very similar to last year's cake--was a Barbie cake. 

 More presents after supper--Eva and her family gave Anna a fishing pole (a Barbie one!) and an invitation to go fishing with them next month.
Anna planned the whole day and all the meals.   All I had to do was make the cake--it was a great day for all of us!  We had so much fun on this very special day!  Happy 5th Birthday, Anna!