Logan's First XC Meet of the Season

After practicing with his running club for a few weeks, Logan ran in his first XC meet of the season this morning at Bellaremine Prep High School in Tacoma.  We were up bright and early for Logan to run his one mile race at 8:50.  I thought he did a great job and, although he was not thrilled about his time, I reminded him that this is just the first meet of many this season and that his times should continue to improve over the many weeks to come.  I am just proud of him for taking his second year of running cross country so seriously and can't wait to cheer him on at several races over the next few months.

Logan lining up with the rest of his team before the race began.

Logan coming around the corner about half way through the mile.

Approaching me...

and running past me.

Logan sprinting on the final stretch of the race.

Giving it his all!

Approaching the finish line with 6:29 on the clock.

Senior Happenings...

It's been a busy last few weeks of summer, juggling a few more trips with daily outings with the children while helping Lia with some senior activities.  She had her senior photos taken by my friend, Jenny, at Swan Creek Park in Tacoma on July 31st.  On August 21st, I helped her paint her senior parking spot in blazing heat for 9.5 hours on an asphalt parking lot with no shade.  It nearly killed me and my back, but we managed to produce an amazing, Harry Potter-themed parking spot inspired by the Maurader's Map.  On September 1st, Lia had a few of her friends over to decorate and paint their "Senior Overalls" which are white overalls that many seniors wear to school on spirit days and to football and basketball games.  Needless to say, Lia was all ready to start her senior year of high school on September 3rd.  I hope it is an amazing and fun year full of wonderful experiences!

July 31st:

Here are a few of my favorite photos from Lia's evening photo shoot.  I love this one of her sitting in a field of dandelion fuzz and wild flowers.

This action shot of Lia kicking the water in Swan Creek is my absolute favorite.

Lia wearing a borrowed cap and gown from her friend, Alyssa, who graduated in June.

Crossing the river on a fallen log.

Posing in front of a massive, fallen tree.

August 21st:

After sweeping, taping, and painting the primer coat, Lia and I painted a very thick layer of yellow over her parking spot.

Lia's friend, Sienna, came to help us for a few hours in the middle of the day.  Here are the three of us standing behind Lia's parking spot right after we finished painting the yellow color.

While the yellow coat dried, the three of us found some shade and took a very well-needed break to eat lunch.

Sienna was a huge help with painting some of the detail work on Lia's parking spot.  She helped us sponge paint the brown border and then hand paint the "Mischief Managed" letters in the Harry Potter font with stencils that I had hand cut a few days earlier.

After Sienna left, my friend, Jill, came to paint the phrase, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," in the middle of the parking spot while Lia and I painted foot prints all over.

After 9.5 hours, a tired Lia poses at the top of her parking spot!  We were so exhausted, sweaty, hot, and sore when we finished at 5:30 in the afternoon, but were also so pleased with the finished product.

A close-up of the "Mischief Managed" words which was the most complicated section to paint.

September 1st:

Lia, Hope, Ani, and Erika taking a break from painting their overalls on our deck to pose for a picture.

A close-up of these four, cute girls who have been such great friends during their high school years.  I'm so happy that Lia has one more year with them before they go their separate ways next fall.

After the girls left, I convinced Lia that splatter painting her overalls would be a great way to fill in all of the white spaces left on her pants after she had finished painting her words and designs.  After she had me do the splatter painting, Lia dried each side of her overalls with a blow dryer in the backyard.

The finished product!  

Lia wearing her darling overalls complete with little bows that I hand sewed on the front side.

Lia showing off the backside, complete with theater masks, her initials, and her handprints.

My dear friend, Sarah, mailed Lia several friendship bracelets with the number "26" on each of them.  Lia handed them out to her friends on the first day of school.  Here is a cute picture she took and posted on Instagram.

Lia wearing her overalls for the first time tonight at her school's first home football game.

A group of senior girls posing in the stands at the game.  What a fun tradition!

Emmett's First Soccer Game of the Season

Emmett began his third season of fall soccer last month when his team began practicing twice a week in the evenings.  Since Emmett loves soccer so much and has such a natural talent for this sport, he picked up right where he left off last November.  He is a kicking and shooting machine and is so much fun to watch on the field.  Today was his first game and Ella, Logan, and I went to cheer him on.  He did an amazing job and scored his first goal within the first five minutes of the game.  He went on to make three of the four points for his team and, overall, played an amazing game.  Well done, Emmett!  I can't wait to cheer him on for the rest of the season!

Emmett going after the ball.

Emmett kicking the ball towards the goal.

The awesome action shot I manged to take of him while scoring a goal.

Emmett celebrating after shooting his goal.  I just love his enthusiasm that is captured in this picture!

Running after the ball.

Kicking it back in bounds.

A happy Emmett running through the tunnel after the game was over.  Oh, how I just love this happy boy of mine!

First Day of School!

After another busy, action packed, and whirlwind summer, the kids all returned to school today.  For the second year in a row, we have children at all three levels of public school, ranging from a1st grader to a senior in high school.  It is going to be a quite a busy year, full of everything under the sun!

Although Lia decided that she will not be acting with NWTL this school year, she will be participating in all three seasons of her high school theater program.  She also made it into the select, choir group at her school called Vocal Ensemble that meets during zero period and consists mainly of seniors.  She will also be returning to online seminary for the second year in a row and finally has an easy schedule with four of her seven classes being electives (painting, drama, and two choir classes).  So, for the first time in her high school year, I hope that Lia doesn't have to work herself to death before, during, and after school.  She deserves to have a fun and easy senior year!

Logan is returning to his second year of junior high school with his dad as the principal!  He will be taking Page (honors) classes for all four, core classes like he did during 7th grade.  Logan has a wonderful and large group of guy friends and will run XC in the fall with his running club and then participate in wrestling in the winter and track in the spring with his school.  Since he somehow seems to be skipping the awkward and torturous years of junior high that I was unable to avoid, I hope that he has another amazing year.

Ella started her seventh and final year at our beloved elementary school.  She was placed in Mrs. Biggerstaff's class, who is the 6th grade teacher she was hoping to get.  In addition, she was put in this class with five of her seven closest friends.  Needless to say, she was super excited to start school this year!  She will continue to practice gymnastics three times a week with her Xcel Platinum team and is looking forward to having more free time after school than she has had in years.

Emmett is now a big 1st grader on campus and was put in Mrs. Brown's class, the veteran teacher of 37 years who everyone rants and raves about.  Although we have never had a child in her class, I was super excited that Emmett got her this year.  Since he is enthusiastic and excited about everything in his life, Emmett couldn't wait to get out the door this morning!  He knows a few students in his class from last year, but I know that he will make several more friends this year and continue to be a leader in every area like he was last year.  In addition, he will play soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, and run track and take swim lessons in the spring.  

Lia

12th grade

Logan

8th grade

Ella

6th grade

Emmett

1st grade

Ella and Emmett sitting on the front porch together.  This is the last year of Emmett's entire public education career that he will have a sibling at the same school with him.  Since he loves his older siblings so much, I wish that this wasn't the case for him.

Ella and Emmett pausing for a picture on their way to enter the side gate at school.

Emmett walking towards the school with his older sister behind him.  I wish that these two could share a few more years of school together.

Finishing the Summer at Blake Island

Today, we finished off another summer at our beloved Blake Island.  This is an annual tradition that my kids and I look forward to every year.  For the first time ever, I let a friend come along since Riley left for college last week, leaving Lia without a cousin her age to hang out with.  As a result, I agreed to bring her friend, Erika, along and she turned out to be a be a great addition to the group.  Although Eric's family did come this year, we met up with Chris, Natalee, Brynn, and Trenton and enjoyed a wonderful two days and two nights out on the island.  We were blessed with wonderful weather Friday afternoon and evening and also Sunday morning.  Saturday was cooler and cloudy, but the sun broke out in the evening for our boat trip to Seattle.  As always, we had so much fun playing on the beach, hiking around the island, going to Seattle for dinner, and sleeping in our cozy tent.  Blake Island is just one of my happy places and I love that I get to share it every summer with my children at the close of summer.

August 29th:

After getting out to the island and setting up camp, we sat around the picnic tables and enjoyed dinner.  Here are all of the cousins, plus Erika, eating together.

As always, we took our family photos on the beach before the sun set.  Here are the six cousins that came this year.  Our group is definitely shrinking as more and more kids graduate from high school and head off to college.

My kids and me.

Erika joined the cousins for the "Toyota" picture.

August 30th:

The younger kids enjoyed climbing in the trees in the morning.

We then spent the rest of Saturday morning exploring the beach and playing hide-and-go-seek in the driftwood.  Here are the boys on a massive tree washed up since last summer.

Lia and Erika built their own fort out of driftwood.

My kids and me.

Emmett proudly standing behind his name that he wrote on the sand.

Ella laying next to her name that she made out of various items she found on the beach.

Logan and Trenton made a seesaw and did some beach yoga with Ella's and Emmett's help.

Logan and Trenton then agreed to do one of the craziest things I have seen...innertubing on the Puget Sound.  Since this water is so cold, this is something we have never done before, especially without wetsuits on.  The rest of us piled in the boat and just screamed and laughed the entire time while these boys bounced around on this freezing water.  Logan even fell in the water a few times!

After they were done, both boys decided to jump off the boat into the water.  It was so crazy to watch as I just couldn't imagine dipping a toe in this water, especially on a cool day.

After lunch, we hiked to the other side of the island to enjoy the beautiful sandy beach there.  Here is the one group picture that we managed to get all weekend long.

After we returned back to our campsite, we quickly grabbed our sweatshirts and piled in the boat to go to Seattle.  It was the perfect night for a boat ride.  Here is a picture of the four youngest kids in front as we approached the Seattle waterfront.

After docking the boat in a marina, we enjoyed walking along the waterfront for several blocks until we made it to Ivar's.  We enjoy eating fish and chips right alone the water.

After we were done eating dinner, the kids enjoyed feeding the seagulls our leftover french fries right off of the pier.  As bad as this is for the birds, this is a Seattle tradition.

We left Seattle right as the sun had set and made it back to Blake Island when it was almost dark.  We still managed to play two rounds of Capture the Flag before climbing into bed a little before 10 p.m.  We enjoyed breakfast Sunday morning before packing up our campground and heading to the boat to make the trip back home.  As always, it was a wonderful way to end our summer.  I can't believe that it is over...