More iPhone photo stories…

I am going to get around to editing good camera photos eventually…but in the meantime, to keep all my readership (3 people) happy, I gotta blog something. So iPhone photos it is!

South Whidbey Invite…5th place in our classification!

She & her “little brother” were #twinning again with 5th place finishes!

My girls at the Berthusen meet.

Love this one of Sarah cheering Bethany to the finish.

King’s Invite – 5th place again! Her “little brother” was 4th though…he just couldn’t run a teeny bit slower so they could be twinning…

The team placed second!!

A sweet mother/daughter shot at Red Robin after the King’s invite…the following week Bethany’s friend was hit by a car while crossing the road on their XC run…she wasn’t badly injured, thankfully, suffering only aches, pains, and a concussion, but it was very traumatic for the entire team and every time I see this picture now I am filled with gratitude that her life was spared and she is back to running!

Happy birthday to Katie D!!

Celebrity dress-up day at school…Bethany is Britt Nicole and Sarah is Andrew Garfield from the Amazing Spiderman. And yes, I had to ask, I have no idea who that is. But teenagers do, and that’s what counts.

Another favorite art project with my kinders…mixing paint!

At teacher’s convention I spent a lot of time with my former teaching partner from 20 years ago. Neither of us has aged at all and we still have a lot in common!

Sarah & Bethany spent a weekend in Portland at George Fox University for a XC meet. We couldn’t go (teacher’s convention), so Ed consoled me with taking us out for dinner to Coconut Kenny’s. We had never been there, but we WILL be back!

Becca & I got to help one of her music teachers paint some stained glass window for the 6th grade musical set – it was really fun!

Don’t look for too long at that ^^ picture. It has the tendency to induce ugly cries. It’s full! When my parents gave me those mats many years ago (we only had two kids then…I had to later buy two more…and the mats were in other white frames, so I had to buy matching frames) I really never imagined what it would be like when it was full. Let me tell you…it’s wonderful. And it’s unreal. And it’s sad. And it’s happy. And it’s the knowledge that nothing will ever be the same again. And it will be exciting. And it will be hard. And it’s all those emotions that overtake me at once that induce ugly cries at the strangest moments…

That same weekend of the Portland meet, we took a fall walk through Arroyo Park and on the Interurban trail in Bellingham that our runner loves to run on. Bethany was home by this time, but Sarah stayed over in Portland with a friend and took the train home. It was a perfect day for a fall walk and we missed Sarah, but it was reassuring to know we could and will still do stuff when she is gone…and it was the perfect way to press the pause button in the middle of a very busy semester.

We crossed the railroad tracks, noting that in about 5 hours, Sarah’s train would be coming into the station over those very tracks!

My fun GEMS bulletin board!

There are many, many, XC pictures to come. This weekend we head to state…and then I’ll do all the rest of XC all at once.

Early September iPhone Photos

In an attempt to get more “caught up” on blogging, I’m going to speed through the first half of September with some simple iPhone photos…

Since we couldn’t have our “friendly fires” this summer, and marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey bars were all in the cupboard, microwave s’mores seemed like a good snack idea after school.

At the Sehome Invitational, Sarah and her “little brother” Eric both earned 8th place!

Sarah had her Senior pictures taken…and chose to have her hair done for them.  Unfortunately it was quite a windy day, so the curls didn’t last long, but it was fun and her hair looked soft and pretty.

She had some pictures taken on the stage in her stage manager “costume.”

And of course, some on the track.

Then we headed to Larrabee State Park for the rest of the shoot. It was a beautiful evening, other than the wind!

These are my sweet Kinders who ran to the window to watch when the principal was swinging with the first & second graders. Loved this!

All my beautiful GEMS on our first GEMS night at the park!!

This is an example of a science experiment destroyed by first & second graders. We put food on a plate to see if the ants would come and put the plate just outside the playground fence near some dirt. When we came back after the first & second grade recess, ^^ THAT ^^ is what we found. Dirt dumped on the food. BUT…there were still ants!

Ants like popcorn more than grapes. Understandable.

Saw this on Pinterest. It’s one of the finest sentiments ever.

And here’s my drama girl who got the part she worked for and auditioned for in the 6th grade musical. Only 3 more weeks until performance time!!!

First XC Meet 2015

On September 9, the XC season officially began with our first meet at home! Bethany was super nervous, since it was her first high school meet, but both she & Sarah did well and it was a beautiful day for spectators! It’s really not even possible to put into words how I feel when I get to watch my girls run. I literally cherish every gut-wrenching second…

I cherish it because all too soon the season will be over, and XC has been a big part of our lives for 6 years now, and even though it’s Sarah’s last year running for LC, hopefully XC will be part of our lives for more years to come. It’s gut-wrenching because they’re working so hard and no one knows how they will feel at the end of the race and I just want them to be happy at the end of the race…

The girls all getting ready to warm-up with Nikki, the assistant coach’s wife, who is basically the team’s extra coach, physical therapist, female counselor, and biggest fan.

I love how you can see the boys’ team lined up in the woods on the right side of the picture – they love to cheer each other on!

They’re such good daughters to recreate a favorite picture from two years ago for their mother. Their newest hashtag is #sistersbyforcefriendsbychoice. It’s enough to make a mother cry.

The First Day of School

September 1, 2015 – the first day of Sarah’s Senior year, Bethany’s Sophomore year, Becca’s 6th grade year, and Elise’s 4th grade year. The day before I have my own classroom of students for the first time in 17 years. This was momentous, people.

Sarah was holding a picture of her on her first day of Kindergarten. Real Senior pictures will come later…

I’m ready for school!

The day before school starts is always Meet the Teacher Day! By noon that day, my classroom was finally ready!

My toy cubbies showed up a couple nights before, so Ed & Sarah were elected to put it together. It only took 3 tries before it was all right-side up and not-inside-out.

Becca & Elise came and helped out, too. Bethany was babysitting or she would have also pitched in on family work night in my room!

The morning of the first day of school (Kindergarten starts on the second day) my rug showed up! Woo-hoo!

#LCXC2015 camp

This year’s XC camp had to be changed at the last minute due to wildfires in Eastern Washington near where they were supposed to camp and near the highway to get there…the highway was even closed!

Since both Sarah & Bethany are running XC this year and would be going with the team, the plan was for Ed to take the two little girls over to camp as well (usually lots of the families go along) and I was going to stay behind and work in my classroom and go to pre-first-day-of-school-teacher-meetings.

Plan B was for the team to camp locally in one of the team member’s 5 acre yard and for all of us to join the team each evening for dinner and for Ed to sleep in the tent with the little girls in the backyard.

Plan B probably worked out the best for me since I didn’t end up missing out on anything and I still got to work in my classroom and go to the teacher meetings. And the kids all understood that their camping experience being altered could not even compare to what the people in E. WA were suffering from in terms of the wildfires…3 firefighters were killed just the week before camp when the fires rapidly changed course and intensified and swept through their truck. Everyone had a good attitude and it was a great experience for the team & the parents alike!

Trying to get the team organized for a picture…

Happy Campers in the backyard!!

Summer 2015 List

Every summer we make a “bucket list.” Every summer there are jillions of things we didn’t do. This year, I was smarter. For the most part, I only wrote down things I knew we would do. Yes, that’s me. I also write things on my to-do list I have already done just so I can cross it off.

The only thing that didn’t get crossed off was “Friendly Fires” – and that was only because we had a burn ban most of the summer because it was so hot & dry. We did have one fire with neighbors before the burn ban started, but that was also before summer started…

Most of the stuff is self-explanatory… “Baby Boom Baking” was baking cookies, muffins, bread, etc. for the neighbors since 3 babies were born in our neighborhood in June. “Visit a Vantage Point” was our July 4th hike to Ebey’s Landing AND Mt. Constitution. Beach Combing was on Orcas Island, though I was hoping to get to Port Townsend as well for more beach combing. “Wet & Wild” was the trip to the Birch Bay Waterslides with Uncle Mikey & cousin Josh. “We be jammin’” was making raspberry jam…anything else you don’t get? Just comment…