Before Halloween is more than a month gone.......

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past few weeks. We had a fun visit with Auntie M, Uncle Sous, Jillian and Nathan and then Grandma and Grandpa Woodworth were in town for Halloween. Things quieted down for a bit but that has definitely changed. Lots of banging and sawing and booming coming from upstairs. I'll try and post some pictures of the progress being made tomorrow. They cut through the roof today and are busily framing the dormers. Rain is supposed to hold off until tomorrow night. Keep your fingers crossed! Julia returned to school today after a weekend of being sick. Poor thing - she had a fever of 103 on and off since Saturday afternoon. The big bummer was that Saturday night was her sectionals meet for gymnastics. She was disappointed that she had to miss it but we encouraged her that she will have another opportunity in the spring. Emma surprised me the other day when she said, "Mom, can we talk about prison a little bit?" Um, okay sure, but where did that come from??????!!!!!!! She had some very serious questions. She seemed satisfied with the answers. We're looking forward to talking to Uncle Tim upon his safe return to Tennessee this week and also to spending time with Nana and Grandpa Povich next week for Thanksgiving.

Emma, Jillian, and Julia - all smiles!

Little Nate

Presenting the seastar and the pirate

Emma's attempt at a cranky pirate face

Emma and Grandpa

Tooth drama

Emma lost her first tooth last week. It was a very dramatic experience - no surprises there! The tooth was just hanging on by the smallest bit and she was just distraught about it. I don't think I have ever heard such wailing. We finally settled her down and got her to sleep with much reassurance that, "No, it won't come out while you are sleeping", all the while hoping and praying that it wouldn't! She woke up with tooth still intact and it fell out as she was sitting on the potty. Thank goodness it didn't fall in! The tooth fairy visited and everything was good again. Here iare some pictures of the toothy gal.

Easing into the school year

Too cute not to share - yes, the girls have taken to dressing poor Lewis up - I missed the picture of him with the tutu on as well...... It was only a matter of time, right? Luckily, he is very patient with them.

What have we been up to? Getting into our school year routine has been (and still is!) time consuming. I think we are finally getting into the groove. For Julia, it was really no big deal. She jumped right in and is loving being at school. On Fridays, if her class has earned enough points, her teacher brings her dog, Ginger, a therapy golden retriever, to class. The kids get to read to her. It is quite an incentive for them. Julia's two best buddies these days are Jake and Linus. Although she is still the social butterfly and interacts with more kids at school than I can keep track of, she definitely spends most of her time with these two boys. Luckily, they are terrific kids and their parents are great too. Emma is very happy at school for the most part too. She definitely has her emotionally charged dramas to tell us about most evenings. First it was the girl who told her, "Don't talk about the picture of my puppy" and how that really made her feel sad. And then it was the kids who told her she was too slow "all the time" and that made her want to cry. And then it was her friend and another boy who are starting to "fall in love". And then one day, she "accidentally" told her friend Devon that she didn't want to play with her and she didn't know why she said it but it just came out. And this is kindergarten!!!!!! Whatever happened to naptime and coloring and eating snack......... Overall though she is doing great - starting to read some words and her recent proudest accomplishment of writing her numbers to 100.

This past weekend Julia had her first gymnastics meet of the season. It was so great to see how she has improved over the past year. In order to go to sectionals (a step above the local meets) you need to score over 31 points total. All last season she was close but never quite made it - this last weekend she did! She was thrilled!

Before the big meet

Chris ran the Portland marathon on Sunday. He had a fantastic race - no leg cramping as in year's past - and finished just 5 minutes shy of his goal, with a time of 3:35. The girls and I cheered him on. It is always amazing to me to see all the different types of people running the race. Some you would never think could finish, do, and with incredible times. It is very inspiring. Maybe someday I'll do another........

Waiting for Daddy after the race - and eating all of the goodies the runners get at the finish. Definitely a favorite part of the morning for the girls. Popsicles are good anytime right? Even when it's 55 and rainy!

Way to go Daddy!

Emma's big day

Emma is a kindergartener! Monday was her first day. She couldn't wait to get to school, see her teacher Mrs. Holman, wear her new backpack, carry her new High School Musical lunch bag, play on the monkey bars at recess, sit next to her friend Devon. Her tummy was a little upset but she was so excited. Daddy took the day off of work so that he could enjoy dropping her off and picking her up on her first day too. I think he was thinking of me as well - knowing it would be a quiet house once they were both at school for 6 hours. I was very thankful for him being around - we went to breakfast and ran errands - kept busy until it was time to pick them up. I did get a little teary but it wasn't until last night that it really hit me. They grow up so fast - I know that sounds cliche but it really is a short amount of time before they start their school years. I will miss having a little one around with me. It definitely feels like a new chapter in all of our lives has begun.

State fair

I wanted to share some pictures from the state fair. We go every year as part of Julia's birthday celebration and have a great time. Animals, scones, giant ice cream cones from the Oregon Dairy Farmer's wives, cheesy exhibits, and great people watching.

First day of THIRD grade!

Here are some pictures of Julia on her first day of third grade last Wednesday. She loves her teacher Mrs. Moist and has some of her good friends in class with her. The class is a 3rd/4th split which should be interesting. One of the 4th grade boys received a "love note" in his desk on Friday. It was all she could talk about after school! Cute but definitely a flash forward to the future....

The fleeting days of summer

So much has been packed into the last few weeks that I'm not quite sure where to start. But of course I must start with a happy birthday post to our oldest, Julia. Eight years old - wow....... she really is growing up. Our neighbor had the nicest compliment about her a few weeks ago. She said, "You know, I've been around a lot of kids and Julia sure is mature for her age. She is so curious and observant and really remembers things that we talk about." It is wonderful to hear the traits complimented that can be so trying for me at times! She is quite something and I love her dearly. Here are a few pictures from her scavenger hunt birthday party. We all met downtown and then traveled by foot and streetcar to search for the next clue, ending up at a great park for cake and presents and fun in the water.

Nana and Grandpa Povich also were in town to celebrate Julia's party with us. After the party on Saturday, we packed the cars and headed off Sunday afternoon for a camping trip to Lost Lake near Mt. Hood. It was an eventful trip! We set up camp and enjoyed a toasty chicken and dumpling dinner before crawling into the tents for bed. The newspaper had noted a chance of "showers" - well, we awoke during the night to pouring rain and gusty winds. It pretty much lasted all night. We crawled out of the tents Monday morning chilled and soggy. The tents held up for the most part aside from a hole in the side of Mom and Dad's tent. Tape to the rescue. Monday was cool and the rain came on and off. A hike around the lake kept us moving and warmed us up a bit. Later, Chris, the girls and Mom and Dad decided to go on another walk. Along the way, Emma climbed onto a fallen log to walk and Nana joined her. Unfortunately, Nana ended up falling off the log and breaking her ankle! She toughed it out for the night but Tuesday morning they packed up and headed back to Spokane to have the ankle checked out. We missed them on Tuesday as we finally had some sunshine and could enjoy the beauty of the lake and the gorgeous views of Mt. Hood.

Nana before the ankle incident.....yes, that is her on the pogo stick Julia got for her birthday!

Nana post-ankle incident - still with a smile!

The lake was full of newts and we spent about an hour in our row boat trying to capture one - finally success!

More fleeting days of summer to come - the state fair and Julia's first day of third grade. Off to bed for now. Oh, one last thing - my favorite quote from Emma on Julia's birthday - "Juuuuuliiiiiaaaaaaaa, it's your birthday you have to be nice to me!" Classic Emma.......

Surviving the heat

Oftentimes the girls get in such dramatic, emotionally charged battles that when I see them playing together like this video shows, having such fun, it makes me smile. This video was taken just before bed on day 3 of over-100 degree, humid days. The heat made all of us a little cranky (well, maybe a lot cranky at times!). Thank goodness for sprinklers!

Also, I had to share a new talent of Julia's discovered at the dinner table tonight. Who knows what her future holds now! We all had a good laugh.......

Biker babes

This morning we rode in the Portland Bridge Pedal. We did the 6 bridge ride which starts downtown and snakes its way across 6 bridges (there is also an 8 and 11 bridge ride). The fantastic things about the ride are that you are riding on some freeways and can stop on the top of some of the bridges and take pictures and admire the views. Julia rode her own bike and Emma rode on the tag-a-long behind Chris. We rode a total of 14 miles and the girls hung in there the whole time. Julia did proclaim at the end, "I am not getting on my bike at all anymore today!" Here are a few pictures from our ride.

Busy week

So quickly I have fallen behind in my blogging duties! Sorry for the delay in posting something new. This past week was busy and by evening I was too tired. Now I have some catching up to do. This past week we went to the zoo with some friends, went downtown and watched the Red Bull Flugtag (which was crazy - people create man-powered flying contraptions and launch them off the end of a runway into the Willamette River - very entertaining as you can imagine!), and spent a gorgeous day at the beach. The beach day trip was an attempt to console two very disappointed girls (and their parents were bummed too) when our trip to Seattle to visit Auntie M and family was postponed due to cousin Nate's 72 hour fever. After a trip to the doctor, it seems that it is just a bug he's dealing with but the weekend wouldn't have been very relaxing for Molly and Sous. We'll look forward to a visit in September.

As school is nearing, I am seeing more and more of a third grader and kindergartener in the girls. Last week we were going to take Lewis for a walk and Julia had the idea of Emma and her pushing their doll strollers along. I agreed and we set off. They were having a great time pretending they were out on an exciting trek with their babies. As we approached the park, Julia noticed a few of her friends from school playing there. She quickly came over to me and said, "Mom, can you push this for me? I really want to walk Lewis." I understood her true motive - "I can't let my friends see me pushing a baby stroller!" It was one of those times when I saw how grown up she is becoming. That along with the, "Mooommmmmmm's" and the gloomy glares.

Emma has been full of 5 -year- old lately. She is very animated and loves to talk with her imaginary prince and princess friends. One afternoon she spent over an hour in the backyard playing, by herself, what appeared to be a quite emotional meeting, parting, and rescuing with the prince and princess. All this while wearing her swimsuit, pink fuzzy dress up shoes, and one knee pad. She has an imagination, that one.......

The beginning of the hole

The end of the hole

The quiet car ride home

Enjoying the new dinosaur exhibit at the zoo -note the giant T-Rex in the background-the roar was loud!

Snow cone tongues

The girls enjoying the Flugtag with friend Simon

Berry Nazi

One of the reasons I love our northwest summers, particularly here in Oregon, is the abundance of amazing berries which grow. Today the girls and I made one of our trips out to Sauvie Island to pick berries. We picked blueberries (loaded on the bushes), raspberries (as big as small strawberries), and marionberries, my favorite (at least one inch long!). I could pick for hours and hours - the girls usually hang in there but by the end they are ready to go. "Mom, can we go now?" "Just a few more - there's a great bunch right here." "Mom, can we please go now?" "Just give me 5 more minutes." "Mooooooommmmmmmm, can we puleeeeezz go home?" "I'm coming - let me just pick a few more as I work my way back to the wagon." I simply can't help myself. Needless to say, my stomach was quite uneasy on the car ride home.

I didn't get any pictures of our berry adventure today - my hands were too full. :) But I did take a video yesterday that I wanted to share. Our viscious dog Lewis and his new backyard mate.

Chefs and artists

The girls have been very busy this summer creating all sorts of things. Last week they pulled out all of the cool cooking tools Emma got for her birthday and spent about two hours at the table making dough from flour, sugar, and water - of course, a few chocolate chips were thrown in as well. They made some "delicious" cookies.........a little chewy and dense but very unique! Emma chowed down two of them right away - not surprising with her and her sweet tooth. Julia nibbled on one, proclaiming it scrumptious (an Auntie M-ism) but put it down after a few tastes. Clean up wasn't nearly as bad as I was anticipating it to be. And how can you beat finding something that keeps them happily occupied for hours at at time?????

Today Julia discovered my old watercolor paints and paper downstairs. Needless to say, they haven't been touched in at least 8 years so when she showed interest in using them I thought, "Go for it." Her painting turned out beautifully (I had sketched the picture with pencil long ago but the painting is all her). She did tell me that art and painting are her favorite subjects in school, way better than math. Emma joined in too and her painting was impressive as well. I think they both favor the artistic things which will make all those math classes in school challenging. Thank goodness their Daddy is such a math whiz!

The happy bakers

Supplies

Don't they look scrumptious?

The artist at work

Julia's masterpiece

Emma's masterpiece

First blog entry!

Off we go!

The three Lady Liberties!

The gang with Grandma Varshal in Johnstown

Daddy and the girls waiting for the subway

Chris, Anut Anna,Uncle Pablo, and smiley Nicolas!

Uncle Mike, Emma, Aunt Kristy and Julia at Valley Forge

Chris and the girls with Grandma Varshal in front of her house

Julia and Aunt Anna in the kitchen

Uncle Chris and Nicolas

Emma and me with the NYC skyline in the background

Okay, so I finally decided it is time for me to try my hand at blogging. I don't know how great I will be at keeping it updated but I am going to give it my best shot! I am looking forward to having a way to share things that are happening around here more often with family and friends. The girls are growing up so quickly - the little day to day things are making a big impact on me and I want to be able to document them and share them with all of you.

To start, here are a few of my favorite pictures from our recent trip back East. We visited Chris' sister Anna, her husband Pablo, and their adorable son, Nicolas in New York; his brother Mike and wife Kristy in Philadelphia; and his Grandma and aunts and uncles in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. We had a fabulous time.

Sorry for the out of order pictures and having to search for the commentary at the end of the blog. I'm learning!