Fancy Nancy

Have you ever heard of Fancy Nancy? If you have; you know that Fancy Nancy IS Josiah. She loves to dress up, to say fancy words, to go fancy places. Tea Parties, Ruffles, Ribbons, all part of the repertoire. Nothing, mind you, may be PLAIN! So here is Adalie, a Fancy Nancy masterpiece! And who do you think is the creator?? You guessed it ..... our own Fancy Nancy, Josiah Ruth!

Our Lake

Daddy's home! And how do we celebrate?? We go to the lake! This is our favorite time of year to ski on Bass. The time of year we are thankful we live where we do.
We can drop the boat into the water 1.5 miles from our house after school/work, and ski on smooth, uninterrupted water. Then head home again for dinner and bed.
Now that's living!
Daddy's home from his trip which means we have our boat driver back!

But it won't last long, the water and the weather is already starting to cool!
Is she a mini me or what??

Cousins

While Piper and Josiah were at Kindergarten, Adalie and I took Ashlyn and Grandpa on a ride over the dam. Cousins may be one of the best things in the world. Josiah and Piper are only 2 months apart and Adalie and Ashlyn are only 6 months apart. And they love playing together. Only when the 4 of them are together do I see the rare sight of my girls splitting up. It's as if they know who is their age and therefore their friend.
Adalie, the youngest, trying hard to keep up....



Life is good when you have a cousin to play with!

Mighty Green Gators

Yes, soccer season has begun. It's true, I caved. I had lots of good reasons; the best of which was not wanting to add another commitment to our family schedule. But in the end, Seth's persuasion won me over. And I have to admit; we are having lots of fun!
It is Josiah's first year to play. And although you can begin playing at age 3, we only have one player on the entire under 6 team that has played before. Seth is the coach and is doing a wonderful job. By just listening to him talk with the kids and watching how he is teaching them, I have gained a window into his childhood soccer experiences. He was so cute on the first practice, before the kids even touched a ball, he circled the team up and asked them "what is the most important rule of soccer?" They all had good answers but no one had the right answer.... "have fun!" Then at the end of the practice, Seth circled them up again and gave each player an encouragement. It was sweet!
I am the team Mom/helper to the coach/photographer/organizer/just love to be involved in the things my kids are doing. And Adalie, she is the coaches assistant. She would love to play, but missed the birthday cut off by just a few days. So she wears her soccer gear, look absolutely adorable in it and practices with the best of them. Of course at the end of Saturdays game, she says.... "but Mommy, I didn't get to play!" So watch out teams, Adalie is coming your way next year!
The night before our 1st game and the banner artist are at work creating our Mighty Green Gator!

Josiah warming up before the game, taking a shot on goal. Love the tongue! Of course, on the way to the game, Josiah asks, "So Daddy, how do you play soccer?"
Refs checking cleats and shin guards.
Josiah waiting for the kick off.
Our "pro", meaning he is the only player who played last year, Turner, played so hard he got a bloody nose. Good thing Mom is close by with a tissue. Didn't stop Turner though!
Our team; the Mighty Green Gators (see banner in the background)! And although they lost the game, they played hard and followed their coaches first rule..... Have Fun!
Funniest part of the game came at the end. The Ref blows her whistle and stops the play. Seth circles his team up and encourages them. He then tells them to run over and give the other team a high five. So here is the other team, all lined up on the field, organized, practiced, ready to walk through a high five with our players. And our players run up and smack, really hard, the nearest hand they can find. No line, no good game, just a smack! And then run back to their coach. Wish I had a picture of that, or maybe just a picture of the other team and their coach's faces, but I was laughing too hard!
Hey, we are from North Fork after all!

Gymnastics

Well the Gymnastics season has started for the year. The only difference; this year......it's Big Girl Gymnastics. No more Mommy and Me. Mommy has to sit in the parents room and watch through the window (boo-hoo). But you should see these girls. They are amazing! And it is alot of fun to watch them work, learn, try, fail, sweat, concentrate, laugh, retry, accomplish!
Little did I know however, along with Big Girl Gymnastics class, came Big Girl Gymnastics outfits. Apparently you can't just wear your soft shorts and T-shirt. Oh, no, Gotta have the cutsie outfits according to my little fashionistas!
Josiah and Adalie are in the same class. Ms. Diane and Miss Jill are their teacher. I tried to get some pics of the girls on their last class, but that doggone gym is just too dark for my point and shoot camera. If you want to see them, you will have to come and sit behind the glass with me Thursdays at 5:30pm!

I Wonder?

Do these girls get sore necks from having to look up at us big people all the time??

She is so doggone cute!

Poppa and Grammy

One of the things we dearly love about Poppa and Grammy is they love to "pop-in". They come on a whim and stay for a day. They read books, play games, go for walks, ski, swim, come for Back to School Night or Birthdays. There doesn't have to be an occassion or a function, just a pop-in, a granddaughter fix. They make our girls a priority and we are grateful!

Thank you!

Mimi

I just wanted to shout out a huge Thank you to Mimi who has made our beds, our walls and our girls beautiful. She is so talented with her thread and needle.

In addition to their Baby quilts, Mimi made each of the girls a beautiful quilt for their big girl beds when they turned 2 years old. And although we are bed jumpers (that began when Seth and I were first married in our little 200square foot studio apartment in Santa Barbara, Seth comes home one day from work and finds me jumping on our very hard hand-me-down mattress..... I was trying to soften it up a bit..... but I digress....) the girls are not allowed to jump on these beauties..... they have to turn them down before they jump!

Adalie's Bed
Josiah's Bed
This quilt hangs in the girls' play room, titled Paper Dolls. Still attached to its label on the back is a 3rd place ribbon it won in the Kerm County Quilting Fair.... it was a very competitive class.
This is our 10 year Anniversary quilt that Mimi and I supposedly made together. But, let me just set the record straight..... although I conned her into making a king sized quilt after she had sworn to never make a king sized quilt again because after all we did not receive a wedding quilt and our 10year anniversary was coming up and I promised to help,..... she really did all the hard work and it is beautiful!

And her latest project..... making my girls beautiful. Josiah says they are the best spinning dresses ever!!

Is it too soon to ask for their wedding quilts????

Daddy's Home

For those of you who didn't know, Seth has been out of town the last week. He was in Mississippi learning how to create clean water filtration systems for those who are not privileged enough to have it. And last night the girls and I, along with our dear friends Lana and Terri, got to pick the fellas up at the airport. And, boy oh boy, did I have 2 girls that where ready for their Daddy to be home.
Let me set the scene for you. Last week I was driving Josiah to school and we were running a bit late when I casually mentioned that Daddy would be leaving the next day for his trip. Much to my surprise, I realize, that although we had been talking alot about his trip, we had not officially told the girls that he was going and when he was leaving. So chaos immediately erupts, questions are flying, only to be silenced by the enormous THUNK of me hitting a deer. OH BOY.... Great Start!
The next morning Seth took Josiah to school; special treat. Then Adalie and I drove Seth down to the airport. We met up with Ralph and Terri, Rick and Lana and headed for the drop off area. Meanwhile Sweet Adalie grows quieter and quieter. As I hold Adalie waving goodbye, we see the fellas walking through the airport doors turning around to wave goodbye as the automatic doors close. (wish I had a picture of that!) Yes, Adalie and I are both a bit teary, but thankfully Mommy had a sucker for us to cheer ourselves up with. And, minutes later a plane flies overhead which Adalie shouts out "that's my Daddy's plane!!!" Later that day Adalie tells Daddy on the phone that "tomorrow she was going to get her ticket and meet Daddy in Mississippi to get clean water." CUTE!
Did we miss him? Desperately. Did we survive? Mostly. Are we glad he's home? Overjoyed. Best part? the phone calls, the girls say the cutest things. Worst part? Dinner, the girls were lonely without our fun maker at the table.
My favorite part?? Picking him up from the airport. The girls were so excited they could hardly stand themselves. And because it is such a sweet moment, I took my camera. Although it was probably a bit of an intrusion, I had to at least try to capture the moment they had been been waiting for all week. I failed miserably in getting the looks on their faces when they could see Daddy coming down the aisle - (as Adalie will tell you we had to wait in the special area because the ladies with the blue shirts (security guards) would not let us any closer) - in getting their high pitched voices that screamed "Daddy!", them running without reserve to be scooped up in his arms, the 3-way head to head nuzzle. Yep, we missed him!
Waiting!
I see him!
Daddy!

Serious Crafters

Just wanted to thank all you craft gifters for all the neat crafts we recently received. Boy, we are serious about our crafts! They love it! And I love watching them create!

I'm secretly hoping they are painting a bracelet for me :)

Show and Tell

Today was Josiah's 1st Show and Tell day. She has waited with much anticipation for her turn and how cute is this...... rather than tell all her friends about her favorite things to do, or her favorite books to read, or the favorite places she has been, or her favorite toys, ...... she chooses (on her own to mind you), to be a little (inadvertent) missionary to her class. She filled one water bottle with muddy water and one with clean water. She told them that her Daddy was going to class to learn how to take all the poor people's water in the world and make it clean so that they would no longer get sick from using dirty water when they drank or washed their face. Funny how even the smallest of these can be used to open the eyes of the little people around them about the realities of our wide wide world. I pray that she will always have such a tender heart for those that are not as privileged as we are.

Wood

Fall is coming. You can feel it in the crispness of the air in the mornings and smell it in the evenings. The breeze is beginning to blow off the first of the oak leaves down to the ground. Fall is coming. Thus, bringing us wood collecting time.


Daddy and the saw he loves. 36inches of wood eating chain cuts through like butter and you never have to bend down!

Adalie with her sweet, noise sensitive ears safely covered with earmuffs.
Our big helpers.
GiPa and the Girls.

Now with more fervor than ever we will be soaking up the last days of summer, the last smooth ski rides, the of the warm weather before winter begins its march our way!

Strawberry Mine

Well, it was hot this last weekend. And what do people in the mountains do when it is hot?? Either go to the lake or to the high country. So chose the high country. We are lucky enough to have friends that are building a cabin up at Strawberry Mine and quite honestly I have been dying to see it. So our family loaded up in the jeep and headed up the mountain for the day. It was wonderfully cool, with fun streams to explore, views to be awed by, friends to laugh with, great food, blue skies, white floating clouds, wind in our hair, care free kinda day.

Daddy, Adalie and Kaiya cheking out the stream.

The 3 girls venture into the water looking for a pretty rock to treasure.





Mommy and Tenaya swimming in the big pool with the man eating fish. Really did you know that fish freak me out!! And these particular fish were either very curious or quite hungry!!


Adalie, Josiah and Kaiya warming up in the sun.

Mommy and Wendy yacking away while the girls played.

Daddy and Adalie taking a midday snooze on the rocks.

Just a cute picture of Josiah soaking up the beauty of the day, listening to the water and the wind.

Playing before dinner.

The change of pace was just what we all needed. It was fun exploring the mine, learning about the trees, picking berries, and getting dirty!!
Thankyou!!