Someone's Birthday

I love you my true love.

Snoqualmie Falls, WA

Conrad and I were enjoying our morning coffee while watching the news when we saw that it was supposed to be 74ºC and sunny today. Perfect weather to visit Snoqualmie Falls! This majestic site is about 30 minutes away from our house. Ava packed us some snacks and we were off! Here are some of my favorite pictures. :-)

Cate's Interesting Choice in Teething Rings

We went to a birthday party last week and my sweet friend even made a party bag for Cate. The look on Cate's face as she was chewing on it was priceless! I love my goofy little girl!

There's a birthday party in the house! Whoop, whoop!

We celebrated Mr. C-Rad's (because he's awesome!) birthday on Saturday with some good friends. The menu was my chicken stir-fry and rice; the music was Sirus XM's The Coffee House; the theme was having fun! One of my favorite things about looking at this set of pictures is that you can tell how much fun everyone is having -from the kids to the adults. Thank you Steve and Miki for tracking down Conrad's favorite beer, and Megan and Jeff for coming. You guys are simply the best!

Ava Began Pre-Kindergarden!

Ava and her best school-friend, Kitana -they were the only two who remembered the old routine of finding their names on their spots and turning them into Ms. Colleen

Ava hanging her lunch box underneath her cubby

Ava and Ms. Jen, the AWESOME program director

Our other big girl in the house began "Pre-K, mom, not preschool" this month! :-) I think she is excited about the fact that her program has a new, more grown-up title more than anything else.

Ava Lost Another Tooth -this one, naturally!

About a year and half ago I posted the story of how Ava accidentally lost her first tooth. After a year of waiting, her permanent tooth grew in -just in time for her other bottom baby tooth to fall out. :-)

Three days ago as we were getting ready to take Bronwen to school, Ava was talking to me and I noticed that the said tooth looked very wiggly and ready to come out. I said, "Ava, let me see your tooth!" I wiggled it and said, "Oh my goodness, it's about ready to fall out!" She immediately backed up and clamped her mouth shut (she gets freaked out by that kind of stuff), and went to inspect how lose her tooth was herself. She went back and forth twice with her little fingers, and suddenly it was in her hand. She pulled out her own tooth! She was very happy and ran upstairs to put it under her pillow.

Check out the big girl!

Thank you Aunt Mia!

Dear Aunt Mia,

Thank you for the beautiful coat you sent me. When mom put it on me, I snuggled into my hood. I felt so warm and cozy. Then I tasted some of the silk ribbon on the bottom of it. ;-)

I love you!

Your Little Cate

Bronwen Began First Grade!

I feel like the luckiest mom in the world! Bronwen began first grade on September 1st, and was already formally recognized for her reading skills in an assembly last week. To quote the principal, "Bronwen reads like nobody's business!"

We're off to an awesome start this school year partly because Bronwen got to keep her same teacher from last year. Mrs. Crowley, who is amazing, moved up to teach the first graders. She let me know ahead of time, so I was able to put in a request to have her for this year. To top it off, some of Bronwen's little girlfriends are in the same class too. It'll be great to see how much she changes throughout the year.

Here are some shots I took of Bronwen leaving school. Hard to believe a new year has already begun. :-)