Surprise!!!!

I love a good surprise party for other people!

It was Allan's 50th birthday and Anne had a big surprise waiting for him when he got home from!

He was definitely surprised!  And I think he feels a lot about surprises like I do! 😝

But...anytime this crew gets together it's a good time!

Our "village".

These kids are definitely growing up!!

Carter's even driving now!

Kim is super excited about that....

Happy Birthday to Allan!!!

We Met a Seahawk!!!

As part of our Jog-a-Thon fundraiser for school, the kids earned enough money to have Seahawk player Jordan Hill come to the school! (He actually plays for Jacksonville now.)

And...there were a few kids who collected the most money and got to have lunch with him!

He spoke for a few minutes about his journey to get where he is now and encouraged the kids to dream big.

 

Annalise was a little starstruck....

He looks a little tired....

 

 When it was time for my class to get their picture, I just had to give him some Seahawk love....

It was a fun and exciting day at Skyline Elementary!!

Happy 8th Birthday Annalise!

Annalise got to celebrate her 8th birthday at our new "halfway/temporary" house!

She was excited to open presents before Mark and Avery left, so she was up early!

SHOPKINS!!

And what a fun and creative gift from Auntie Robin and Uncle Geoff!

Since it was a school day Annalise chose to leave a little early with her friend Calli and go and get a steamed milk and a monster cookie for breakfast!

Annalise is that kid who's always up for anything!

You name it....she'll try it....she's got an adventurous personality for sure!

For dinner...she chose SUSHI!

And check out the color of this cake!!!

Instead of a birthday party Annalise wanted to do a trip to the mall and a sleepover with Calli.

So...she waited patiently until the weekend and then we did it!

These two were ready to SHOP!

And play....

There were lots of giggles....

And snuggles....

Happy birthday Annalise. We love your spark and willingness to try anything!

You're super creative and love making things for other people.

You have a kind heart and are concerned when others are hurting.

It's so fun watching you grow....and love the little person you are becoming.

We are proud of you Annie, and we love you so very much!

New Beginnings

We didn't take the decision to move lightly.

It was months and months of conversation and lists of pros and cons.

When we put our house on the market we weren't expecting to sell it the next day.

All of that happened without a back-up plan.

Where would we go????

Lucky for us, we have an amazing "village" of friends looking out for us.

Just so happened, Chris was willing to move out of his house and live with Stacy for a couple of months until we moved into our new house.  WHAT????  We will be forever grateful to them.

So......our "halfway" house until we move.

It couldn't have been more perfect.

Still in the Ferndale school district and Avery can ride the bus to school with her friends every day.

It's a very nice and friendly neighborhood.

Avery's got tons of friends there already, and Annalise has made a new BFF in the girl next door.

We packed up most everything in pods and just moved the girls' rooms, our bed and some misc. things.  Chris left everything else for us to use.

I think Mark really likes the family room!

On another note.....we FOUND our house!!!!!!!!!!

We think it will be perfect.

The house will work great for the 4 of us, there's space for Gramps, a huge shop 

AND a bonus Quonset hut! 

It used to be a winery.

We'll convert their "tasting room" into Gramps' home.

 

We're about a block outside of the Ferndale School District which is a bummer, 

but fortunately the girls will still be able to stay at their same schools.

Wow.  It's all coming together!

Saying Goodbye

We are officially moving out.

This house was really the only house both girls remember.

 We moved in when Avery was just 14 months old.

She could reach the door handles standing on her tippy-toes! 

It was a great house for us.

The location was perfect....close to work, close to schools, close to friends and activities.

And here we are....

We leave with mixed feelings.

The girls (especially Avery) are sad.

We're all a little nervous and excited, too.

 Lots of great memories in this house.

But like Mark keeps telling the girls....

home is wherever we are.

It's not the physical place that necessarily makes it home, it's us being together.

Gulp.

And so begins the next chapter.

 

 

Happy 12th Birthday Avery

This year's birthday was a little different for Avery.

Just 2 days away from moving, things were a bit chaotic around the house.

Everything was packed up, so she decided to wait and take a fun trip to 

Seattle with a friend later in the summer to celebrate.

We didn't let the day pass without letting her know how loved she is....

She opened presents, including this fun one from Auntie Robin and Uncle Geoff....

She said she had a great day...her friends all poured on the love, including a birthday serenade at lunch.

So embarrassing! 😊

We went to Coconut Kenny's for dinner....

And then it was off to Taekwondo.

Mr. Ross asked her to lead stretching....

Happy Birthday Avery.

We are so very proud of the kind, beautiful, smart, strong, confident girl you are.

Your future is bright, kid! XOXO

Hanmadang 2016

This was Avery's third time at Hanmadang.

It gets a little better each year....we figure out and can plan when she needs to be there vs. 

that first year when we sat on the bleachers for an entire morning!

Annalise had soccer, so just I took Avery.

 She was only participating in the poomse competition, 

so we were just waiting for them to call her age group.

It was time!!!

She wasn't the least bit nervous.

She nailed it!

Look at these scores!

Yahoo!!!  Nice work Avery!!!

Here she is....a week away from turning 12 with such amazing perseverance and confidence.

We're so proud of her....

Girl Scout Planting

Annalise is really enjoying Girl Scouts!

She's got amazing troop leaders who get the girls out and doing some really great things.

With some of their "cookie money" the girls chose to plant a tree and a flower bed at one of Ferndale's local parks, Hovander Homestead.

They had a great time doing both!!!