1st Day of School - Sept. 2009

Gabrielle - 10th grade - Skyline High School - go Spartans!!

Jakob - 6th grade - Beaver Lake Middle School - go Bulldogs!!

Audrey - 4th grade - Endeavour Elementary - go Jaguars!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRIS!!

Here's our new purebred miniature Australian Sheepdog. He's 12 weeks old & names Koda, from the little bear on the Disney movie "Brother Bear." Gabby thought of the name, because he looks like a little bear from behind (mainly because of his docked tail). Now Chris has a REAL dog that plays, fetches & swims in the lake. We also have our cat-dog, Riley : )

Jakob's 5th grade graduation - on to middle school!!

Jakob's teacher, Mrs. Jensen - Endeavour Elementary, June 11, 2009

Jakob got a big "Awww..." from the audience, as he walked up to get his graduation certificate & handed flowers to his teacher. The next video is all the 5th graders singing "A New Tomorrow."

Audrey's 3rd grade field trip - Alki Beach

Eating lunch with friends at the beach

Yep, that crab is definitely dead!

One of the many purple star fish they found

Mrs. Smith's 3rd grade class - June 9, 2009

Audrey liked to poke the anemones & watch them squirt!

Gabby's freshman semi-formal dance (dinner party)

Great friends - Gabby & Maddi

That's my girl! Beautiful dress with converse : )

The boys on the trampoline

They look so cute!

Some of the girls being goofy

Here's the whole gang

Laura's Happy Birthday

Thanks for all the calls & birthday wishes on Facebook!

Six Quirks Tag

6 Quirks Tag
1. Link the Person who Tagged you. http://www.talesfromtheduchess.blogspot.com/
2. Mention rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know or leave a list of names at the bottom of the post.

Laura's six Quirks (you mean, I can only pick 6?)

1. When I'm bored, I often find that my hands are either typing or playing the piano in mid air. Kinda weird, I know!

2. I can't stand it when someone drinks my drink. It grosses me out - especially if it's my kids. I guess I have a huge fear of floaties & kid cooties!

3. When I fold t-shirts, I arrange them every other direction in a pile. I just think they lay nicer in the drawer & one side's not thicker than the other. Okay, commit me now - I'm really OCD.

4. This one is recent. I love to sleep in a sweatshirt with the hoodie pulled over my head. I feels very cozy, like I'm in a cocoon.

5. I have to sleep with a fan noise in the background. I can't sleep at all in silence -it absolutely drives me crazy. I keep a fan going every night, even in the winter.

6. I have to drink Coke Zero - I just have to!

I tag:
Cynthia Timothy
Rebecca Dover
Melinda McCarthy
Laura Mammen
Christa Platt
Nicole England

We've gone Halloween Crazy!

Jack Skellington

Table Pumpkin

It's Scary by the Door

Inflatable & Skull in Audrey's Window

We had our adult party . . . now we get 20 teens this Friday nite!! I hope our neighbors will still speak to us afterwards.

Ahh...Fall Football - It was fun, glad it's done!

Jake is # 34 - what a cute kid!

Go Skyline Spartans!

postgame victory chant

winning touchdown

BLACKBERRIES - we love them!!

Late August & early September mean "blackberry picking" in Washington. They grow wild all over the place. We walked across the street from our neighborhood, to Beaver Lake Park and picked lots of them. The great thing is, Gabrielle can make great pies! Hmmm . . . I wonder what we should do with all these blackberries?