8 years

And 2 kids later, we celebrated with a gorgeous hike to Elk River Falls, huckleberry ice cream, and an old European breakfast.

It was COLD this morning...

When summer gathers up her robes of glory and, like a dream, glides away.

Sarah Helen Whitman

And enters my FALL. My pumpkin plant is blossoming...

And I'm spent.

So I won the mother of the year award today. Not the BEST mother of the year award, the REALLY? You REALLY did that? mother of the year award. 

I forgot to pick my daughter up after her FIRST day of KINDERGARTEN. 

I found her, after a call from her teacher, sitting in the PRINCIPALS office. Waiting. 

She says, "Mom, did you, like, not know what time to be here?"

In my defense, I had been up for 20 hours and laid down for just a teensy little nap. And slept through my alarm. I'm sorry Mrs. Cox, I forgot my 6 yr old because I slept through my alarm. Am I in 

HIGH-SCHOOL? 

So I have a bad first impression to make up for, in snacks, and volunteer hours, and party organizers, and field trip helpers.  We of course went straight to get bean burritos and tater tots and pink lemonade and I think amends have been made. Ilon LOVED school. She said, I can't wait for it to be bedtime, because I have SCHOOL tomorrow! I hope I hear that for a long time! 

Aaron and I are realizing we are stretched pretty thin, a good stretch, but it means lots of calendars and organization and alarms and naps at appropriate times. I am on nights again, which is a bit of a roller coaster sometimes. The last two nights I got to hold a darling little bundle of baby girl while she had a little rougher transition to this new world than some. I LOVE this job. It's a privilege to be present in such a huge moment in life. Aaron is "enjoying" law school. I'm not sure how else to say that he is appropriately overwhelmed and from what he's seen so far is excited about being a lawyer. 

Prayers for GRACE during this time are WELCOME! 

Mollie and Finn

We had a lovely visit with our Seattle friends this weekend. What a treat! Mollie and Finn came to play, hike, ride bikes, and teach me how to make bread on the side. Mission accomplished! Excited to make a trip out west to visit their home sometime soon.

The little Gabe man is having a rough go of it, a combination of being a 3 yr old boy and sick, and probably allergic to whatever is floating around the air here. Good thing he's so darn cute or his mother would lose her mind. Here's to saline, hot showers, and a spidey-man blanket.

Happy 6th Birthday Ilon!

This is a bit overdue, Ilons birthday was celebrated over a couple of days do to a sick brother and a working mama. She is so happy to be 6. Her magic number is 10, I'm not sure exactly why but in her world she is another year closer to being 10. She got the courage to get her ears pierced, and is so proud! We've had quite a few conversations about that over the last year. Over the course of a week, she had a picnic with dad, made cake pops with mom, went out for her favorite frozen yogurt, went to a parade, shopped and was showered with gifts perfect for her. She felt blessed.

With all the beautiful gardens growing around us, we have been cooking and baking a lot! I could eat my weight in the homemade sticky buns and fresh sweet corn at the Farmers Market. I made a gorgeous cherry pie that turned out HORRIBLY. Pity. But we've made some killer smoothies and pizzas. Aaron has jumped in full swing to law school, and Ilon turns 6 tomorrow!! Where did the time go? She is working up the nerve to get her ears pierced. Gabriel is under the weather at the moment, being sick and still is completely out of his comfort zone. I start my 2nd week on nights, it was nice to sleep all summer! Turns out babies come when they want, surprise surprise, so I've had plenty to do to keep me awake.

Heyburn State Park

We went camping with the Meyer's Family on a beautiful lake an hour away from Moscow. Other than the parts where Gabe got an enormous splinter in his foot and screamed bloody murder and fought like a tiger while we removed it and then had diarrhea that night all over his blankets and clothes it was really fun! The kids love swimming, anywhere really, but exploring the lake and throwing rocks, sticks, fishing, they had a blast.

We are spending the evening with chips and salsa, The Office and doing laundry. Aaron's first day is tomorrow!