Goings on

Here is what is new with us:

Elsie is "cruising," walking holding onto the couch or ottoman.  She is getting better at climbing into little chairs and getting herself down.  She can get down from standing now, which is great.  Her naps are all kinds of messed up and she is waking up too early.  It's really a pain because she wakes up the other girls, but we will not let her get up until a reasonable hour. 

Katya is SUPER excited to start kindergarten.  I am so glad, I know the novelty will wear off after a while, but it is so nice that she is looking forward to starting.  We got 3 free, used uniforms from school and she got to meet her teacher and see the classroom.  That was pretty great because it was just us there so she was able to meet her teacher without a bunch of other people around to intimidate her.  Tomorrow we will go to drop off school supplies and meet some of the other kids.  There are only 8 kids in her class so far.  She starts next Tuesday and will be getting out at 12noon for the first 2 weeks. 

Katya has her first loose tooth!  The dentist discovered it today at her check up, it was the highlight of the trip.  She was pretty terrible (screaming crying and running into the hall) for the visit and would not let them polish her teeth.  Reagan, on the other hand, did great!   

Reagan is cute and silly as ever.  She is going to miss her sister this year but should enjoy lots of quality mommy time. 

We are thinking and praying lots for my sister Candace and her family, as Scott gets ready to deploy for another 8 month cruise.  What?  You are probably thinking, didn't he just get home a few months ago?  Yes, he did.  I can't imagine how hard this is on the sailors and their families.  The boat pulled out of Bremmerton yesterday, I believe.  There were quite a few really negative comments  from family members on the Stennis's FB page about how soon they are leaving again.   

Doug is retiring from Puget Sound Energy!  Friday is his last day.  They sold their house in Duvall(not sure if it has closed yet) and are pretty settled in their Vancouver house.  It is so cool having them just a 30min drive away.  A few weekends ago I dropped the kids off for the day (while Craig was in CO) and got some kid free time.  It was awesome. 

That's about it!  Love, Brenda

So much to blog, so little time

I have a bunch of blogs in my head...Katya's birthday party, birthday shoot, random summer pictures, back to school stuff...but really, who has the time?! Tomorrow the littles and I are heading up to Olympia and I am quite excited to see my big girl. I miss her so! Here she is at the Vancouver train station, getting ready to leave with Grandma Bev.

Trip to Olympia

This is such a cute picture of Charlie and Grandma! I love it.

Katya is VERY excited for her special trip to Olympia next week. Grandma is coming down on the train Tuesday morning to pick her up and they will ride back up together. Katya is spending two nights and then the other girls and I will drive up on Thursday. We will spend one night and come home on Friday. Katya already packed (and quite well I must say) for her trip:-) What a great way to finish the summer!

Legos!

Craig got out some of his old Lego's and set them up with Katya one night. She had so much fun playing with the pirate island! It stayed out on the table for several days, until I got tired of finding the tiny pieces on the floor. They also set up a castle, a pirate ship and an airport. Katya kept calling the runway a "runroad," silly girl.  It was pretty awesome and comical listening to my girls play with the pirate themes.  They got it to the spirit somewhat with other figurines (mostly the Disney princess's) being captured and put in the dungeon, but then I would hear one girl say, "let's pretend they (the pirates) are nice."  They are definitely little girly girls though I love seeing them have a blast with the "boy" themed toys. 

Elsie's first birthday cake.

I got some cute shots of Miss E digging into her first birthday cake! The key to my success was the handsome guy holding the light reflector.  The lighting in the first frame is really bad, but I could not resist including it because of the number one candle on the cake:-). The pictures improve greatly after that with Craig rocking the reflector, thanks baby!