Good Start to the School Year

 We are off to a good start this school year!  Ezra and Caroline both love their teachers and are making friends.  After two weeks they are even starting to remember the name of a couple of said friends.  The best friend that Caroline has made since the beginning of the school year is:  her sister. 

 Nora is finally old enough for creative and imaginative play.  She can follow orders from her big sister--when she wants to.  They have three hours alone together in the mornings after we drop Ezra off at school.  Often the three of us do something together.  But more frequently the girls get going on some business of their own as I finish cleaning up breakfast.

 It just makes my heart ache in a good way to watch this little relationship grow.  I've been a bit sad to watch Ezra and Caroline's relationship grow a little more distant as they make friends of the same sex over the past year.  So, this new friendship is even more beautiful.

 Sisters.

 Friends.

 Another sign that school is going swimmingly:

That says "I feel like going to bed" for those of you not trained in reading "best guess spelling" : )  And there he is in his bunk bed (somehow on the top AND bottom bunk) with all those zzzz's coming out of his mouth.  He has been exhausted to the max these first few weeks as he gets into the routine of full day school rather than half.  Thankfully it's a fun kind of tired and he enjoys it. 
Now if they can just stay this excited about it for 169 more school days!

A Missing Board in the Fence

 Today is school picture day.  Last night while I was brushing Caroline's teeth--I managed to sneak out one of her bottom teeth.  Two of them have been hanging by a thread for about a week now, and she was determined not to let them fall out.  We all chase her around begging her to let us get rid of them.  Nora randomly pumps her fist in the air and chants "Rip it out, rip it out!!!!"  I knew that by next year, most of her front teeth will have fallen out and grown back in and I really, really wanted one school picture with at least one missing tooth.  So, yep, I was mean and I "accidentally" brushed one of her teeth out.  It was so ready that only a drop of blood came out with it.  Plus, she got $2 from me, er, the tooth fairy.  I'm not that mean, right?

We'll see when I can get to the other one : ) 

Maisonnette

Photo Credit:  Natalie Jennette Photography

 Last December our girls were asked by some friends of ours if they would "model" some dresses.   Now, these are not just ordinary dresses--they are beautifully and uniquely put together dresses designed by the ladies over at Maisonnette.  Mother and daughter team Ava and Madeline Warr design boutique dresses and skirts for your unique little girl.

Photo Credit:  Natalie Jennette Photography

 The dresses are made of high quality fabric and easy to wash and wear.  The ladies want the dresses to be worn and played in--not just hung in the closet looking pretty.

Photo Credit:  Natalie Jennette Photography

 They were easy to take on and off with neck holes that were big enough (a common problem with boutique dresses is that they are not easy to take off and on), easy to button buttons and wide sashes. 

Photo Credit:  Natalie Jennette Photography

 The dresses shown in these photos are from the fall line and are now available.  Drooling over the designs?  Dying to have one or two for the precious little girl in your life?  Head on over to Maisonnette and snatch up a few!

Photo Credit:  Natalie Jennette Photography

 And if you happen to live in southern California, you are fortunate enough to use Natalie Jennette Photography to get your family portraits done--Christmas is not that far away these days.

Photo Credit:  Natalie Jennette Photography

Natalie works well with kids and loves to shoot them as they run and play in a natural way.  My girls had fun trying on all the beautiful dresses and running around while Natalie sat back with her camera and worked her magic.  Her photography site is also linked to Maisonnette, but you can go straight here and find her.
Maisonnette is fully "made in America".  They are also some lovely women.  Thanks for the opportunity to model your dresses Madeline and Ava and thanks for shooting the event, Natalie.  We sure had fun and we are enjoying our fall dresses and the photos of the girls!

An Active Weekend

This last weekend was the last hurrah of summer--Labor Day Weekend.  And being the tree hugging, green loving, super active, totally hip Seattleites that we are, we decided to go hiking AND biking.  Just kidding about tree hugging, green loving, super active and totally hip, btw.  True Seattleites would scoff if we labeled ourselves any of the above.

But seriously, we did hike and bike.  Saturday we pulled out our Northwest Forest Pass (because nothing is free this close to the city) and headed over Highway 2 to Bridal Veil Falls. 

 Thankfully, Nora likes to get out of the pack and walk/run for a decent portion of our hikes these days.  And she actually goes fast enough for a while that she doesn't hold us back that much.  Most of us, anyhow--as you can see "number 4" is always running ahead of the pack.

 He gets a good ways ahead and then stops when he finds a nice rock to wait for us on.  The problem is that Caroline thinks that she needs to sit and rest on the same rock as soon as Ezra gets off of it.  So then Ezra runs ahead and the girls and I fall behind and the problem starts all over again...

 The hike was 2 miles up--that's about the max that we can do without too much whining at this point.  At the top, we were rewarded with a beautiful up close view of the falls.  They are minus a LOT of water right now.  Because the last time there was measurable rain in Seattle was a month and a half ago!  We are nearing a record.

 A nice man took a family shot of us.  And I learned from last year's Labor Day half squat pose with the back pack on.  This time I sat down and tried a little harder at looking normal.

 The view below.

 My favorite view : ) 

 Try to ignore the unhappy looking lady in the photo below.  I really was having a lot of fun--my back just didn't agree with my pack at the moment.  Nora crashed out hard on the way down.

 Sunday we took a much needed day of rest and worship.  And Monday we resumed activity and drove out to our old stomping grounds for a bike ride on the Iron Horse Trail (this time using a Discovery Pass--because remember, even a trip into nature will cost ya).  We started at the parking lot by Rattlesnake Lake with no particular destination in mind.  We didn't want to tire the kids too much the day before school started or listen to any whining about how hard it was.  Ezra never wants to turn around and head for home, but certain others do. 

 Nora was happy by this point-but the first 20 minutes we rode along listening to her scream that she wanted to be on "MY BIKE" instead of in the trailer.  This is always a hard point in life when the little one knows how to ride but just doesn't have the endurance built up yet. 

 A certain girl might have been bribed to ride a little bit more with the promise of a new pair of tennis shoes from the outlet mall.  Whatever works,  huh? 

All in all we had a great time with all that activity.  And I might have even worked off one or two bites of the elephant ear I had at the Evergreen State Fair last Friday. 

3, 2, 1...Blast Off!

 3, 2, 1...Blast Off!  It's been the battle cry of my kids as they tease me about leaving for school.  And today, it was blast off time. 

 I made them hold still long enough for a couple of photos.  What strange faces they make, whose kids are they anyhow????

 Ezra started 1st grade.  He marched in with the biggest grin--his eyes spitting fire works. 

 After that it was back home for a few hours of just us girls...and then...I had to say good bye to this one as well.

 She had her cute, girly outfit on but made sure to wear her brand new blue and black tennis shoes.  The perfect example of our girl--cute and girly, but fully tom-boy to the core.

 There she goes--going, going,

Gone.  And just like that, a new school year has begun.  May they be lights shining brightly in a dark world!