Halloween!

I was a little shocked and hurt when Anja decided to be Daphne from Scooby-Doo. It wasn't a princess, cut costume at all! But then Rich pointed out...

...Anja puts on a princess costume every single day and parades around the house so dressing up like something she does everyday is not 'dressing up'. That made me feel better.

Jensen was some video game character named the Master Chief

And Carter was death. Nice, huh?

Anja with Bailey and Madison Huntsman

Anja with her best friend Robbie Shae Lundgren.

All three of them at the Bywater's trunk-or treat.

Cousin Pictures

Before Nadia and Marcus headed to NYC, we took pictures of all the cousins (Elsi wasn't born, yet). It was fun and hard.

We've been lucky to have these girls grow up together. Most cousins see each other once in a while. Not this group. We are as close as can be.

All the boys together. I'm not sure Marcus is thrilled with the idea.

Beautiful brother and sister.

Then we had a little fun and showed our sweet side....

...and our playful side.

It was a fun day.

Little Angels?

I'm seriously considering using this as the picture for this year's Christmas card and putting something like "Merry Christmas from our little angels" on it. Does that make me a bad mom?

Catching up...

It was a fun summer but the last month was so crazy! Carter started school in July, which I hated, but that didn't matter one bit when Uncle Scott came to town..we went to Lagoon. There isn't a person on earth who's more fun at Lagoon than Scott.

But the biggest news of the summer was the school opening. The doors opened to Endeavor Hall on September 6, 2011. No small miracle.

Three of us board members were there dropping off kids. Me, Jennifer Perry and Greg Robinson. We're the original three who jumped on this ship when it wasn't more than just a blueprint and the three who saw it through. I never thought I would say I opened a school--nice line on the resume!

Jensen's class with Ms. Meg Suess.

Jensen at recess with his best friend Connor Hughes. It was a good day.

School also started for Anja along with dance class. It's been interesting to see who much she's improved just with her age.

Not sure what move this is but it's funny.

Ah, this poor neglected blog..how I miss you. I will be back, soon.

A visit with Mat and Kellie

We got a special treat the first of August when Mat and Kellie visited from OR. It was unexpected because no one really knew Kellie's brother was getting married until it happened. It was a quick visit so we made the most of it--indoor theme park.

Uncle Mat can make the silliest kiddy rides seem fun enough to ride over and over again.

Then there was the mini golfing. I'm glad we didn't break any windows.

It was hard to say good bye to my brother. It's funny how months can go by and when he's here, we slip back into our roles and I'm the protective sister and he's the whimsical brother. I miss Mat most the day after he leaves.

Back once again

I am back. I told someone it feels like I had a baby---all this time spent on someone else--then finally one day you wake up and decide to take charge of your life again. So-- with that in mind, I will catch up on the last month of our lives. Some wonderful and important things happened in August and I didn't write one of them down. So here goes...