Mom's Birthday!

 I started to get that ol' itch to be traveling in the car, and was missing our traditional trips to Panajachel, Guatemala when I was little.... then I remembered going to Packwood last year, and how it was similar to Panajachel in that it is up in the mountains and you stay in a creaky, old yet fun, house and you get the opportunity to see some great nature! :)  So, I suggested we hop in the car this past weekend, and go for a couple nights, and while we were there, we could celebrate Mom's 60th birthday! :)  I was curious to see what Rainier looked like in the fall.  It wasn't in full bloom yet, but it was still breath-taking!

Right out of Yakima, past Nachees, we stopped by the river for some lunch.  The color of the water was so beautiful! :)

Dad found some acorn trees and was picking some branches to take home to decorate with, but in the end he had to throw away the branches because they had been picked clean of all the acorns by a fascinated granddaughter....

Here is where we stayed for a couple nights.... :)

Our first stop right before entering Rainier National Park

The girls kept entertained with this travel board....  Tory wrote: Umbrella Bird to go with her drawing. :) 

Keep Natalia fed and hydrated and she'll go for hours! :)

First Class Row :)

We had our eyes open for a good place to eat for Mom's birthday dinner, and this place caught our eye: Alexander's Country Inn in Ashford. I wish I had taken a picture of the whole building, it was beautiful.  This place has been a restaurant and hotel since 1902.

They were fascinated by this water wheel in a side garden 

Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of this path, but there was a museum showing stuffed animals which confused Natalia.  "Can I touch it?" "No." "Why?" "Because it is in the glass." "Why is the tiger (I could not convince her that it was a cougar) in the glass, Mommy?"

Signs that a beaver was in the area... :)

The moss was so beautiful!

Baby pinecones!

These bridges were a life saver! They kept Natalia walking, looking for the next one in the path.

There were so many of these stumps, and we kept imagining faces out of the odd shapes... this one was a long-nosed troll.

The wide range of color on the bark of this tree was so cool

We finally made it to Paradise! And the colors did not disappoint!

Tag teaming! After we could no longer hold her, she pretended to be the cat and Grandma became the mouse... she squealing and laughed, chasing Grandma down the mountain path

She did awesome all day and only started to lag at the end... here I am pulling her along... tired girl!

Got to see some wildlife! We also saw a chipmunk, a bluejay, and elk.

On the way back to the restaurant, Natalia was warming up for the grand event:

They had trout in a pond for anyone wishing that for dinner.  But first, they were fed bread by my girls.

We had such a fun time together, celebrating Mom's special day!

Musikgarten

My friend, Tammy, pointed me in the direction of Musikgarten when Tory was just 18 months old or so, and since then, I have been taking Tory, and now Natalia to Ms. Linnea for some awesome music classes!  Tory has progressed through all the levels and is now beginning her first keyboard class.  She received some high praise from Ms. Linnea, saying, "She is so ready for keyboard as evidenced by her rhythmic and tonal abilities, her singing, playing the bars, dancing, etc. She has been one of my more talented students." Here she is in her second week of class:

And an example of Ms. Linnea's neat teaching techniques:

Natalia is also enjoying her class:

Prosser Balloon Rally

Never would I have imagined that getting my girls up a 5:15am would be so easy!! All I have to say is, "Let's get up so we can go see the balloons!!" and they both jump out of bed squealing with delight saying, "Let's go, let's go!"  I was the one still in bed trying to make myself get up! We made it perfectly on time with such enthusiasm.  It was fun and so beautiful to watch.  The only bummer was that Edwin was not able to make it, since harvest is in full swing at Hogue Wineries!

After the fun, we went to Benton City, where we practiced carving a pumpkin and got some herbs, besides checking out the bunnies, chickens, and eggs, of course.

Flexibility

For a couple of years now, Tory has wanted to grow up to be an Animal Rescuer, just like the Wild Kratt Brothers, a fun PBS show for kids.  After going to see the very exciting OVO, by Cirque du Soleil, however, her ambitions have shifted to being an acrobat.  And, of course, all little sisters want to be whatever Big Sister wants to be.  We finally agreed to let Tory have a go at gymnastics.  She comes home bouncing after her first hour and a half class and says, "Mommy, that was a very SHORT class!" I agreed.  She could have stayed another hour, I thought, and maybe she would have tired out a little.  But it was all a facade: she fell asleep on her way down to the pillow that night.

Of course, I had to let Natalia try out a class too.  She wrapped her legs and arms around me as though she feared imminent separation from me and I had to jump down the trampoline line with her about five times before she finally allowed me to just hold her hand and do it with her.  Today, at her third class, she still wants me close, but she has certainly blossomed. :) They both share the same, sweet teacher, who is the second of 6 (or was it 8?) siblings.

Natalia Reading

Natalia is growing and changing too fast!  Adorable, as she is now in pre-school with my co-op of friends, coloring, gluing, singing, and . . . reading?  Here goes cuteness:

Here are some other pictures of her friends as they play together.

Beginnings....

Here I am, once more, after a year of silence.  No promises, but this is tugging at my heart.  Looking back on almost six years of documentation, seeing the posts, the pictures, and the videos, made me realize what I have missed by not writing the special things my daughters are doing as they grow so quickly.  So, here we go once more.... with nice improvements to Blogger!  Maybe I won't have to wait 30 min. for one video to upload anymore! That would be sweet! So, here goes....

I wanted to share what I get to see every morning since Tory began 1st grade at Sunset View Elementary.  When I think back to the agonies of that first week of school, I still surprise myself! I would neve have imagined it would be so hard to say good-bye as I trust my daughter into the hands of Someone Else, who would become the next to biggest influence in her life, having her about 6 hours a day, five days a week.  I want to be that main influence! But, I must let her go!  Praying Jesus steps beside her all day as she comes and goes, talks and plays, learns and grows.

Before I keep spilling my memories, here are the pictures of what I get to see every morning:

I have to share the first of God's miracles in this whole school situation. I have been praying that God would place teachers and classmates into my children's lives who would be good influences and good friends since they were born.  For two years I tried to get Tory into my district's (truly) Bi-lingual program and as hard as I prayed and hoped, it didn't happen.  

The day before classes were to begin, I still did not know who Tory's teacher was or what room she would be in.  I was worried about this, so I visited my neighborhood school where I had registered her at the appropriate time, and discovered they were maxed out and had to place Tory on a waiting list.  They had to wait a week to see if any space would open up because of students not showing up.  If all arrived as expected, she would then be assigned to another school somewhere in the district.  

I must say, I was upset.  She was going to miss the most important week of school, where all the teacher's expectations are explained, all the students get to know each other, and their surroundings.  I knew she could do it, she could come to school a week late, and be fine, but I did not want that to be her first experience in school.

With Edwin's advice under my belt, I called the district.  They said I could call a "sister school" and if they had room, Tory could go there.  She then gave me a list of sister schools.  I was in shock! The second one on the list was a school I had secretly wished Tory could go to and had actually considered asking for a transfer to send her there.  I quickly called them up, and this was around 2:00pm the day before school started.  

The secretary was SOOOO nice (which, honestly, surprised me very much)!! I explained my situation and she very calmly said there was plenty of room in first grade and Tory was welcome to come if I could fill out some transfer paperwork before the work day ended at 4:00pm.  I hung up and, what do you know? Natalia had just woken up from her nap!  Quick as a wink, both girls were thrown in the car, and we were off!

Needless to say, I now drive Tory 10 min. to the school I most wanted her to attend (after the Bi-lingual one) and she has a wonderful, experienced teacher, named Tracy Hamar, who was so sweet and delighted to have me bring cookies on the second day of school for Tory's birthday.  She is firm, yet kind.  When we went to Open House a couple weeks later, I could not believe my eyes when Tory showed me a WHOLE PAGE of her own handwritten story, with an elaborate picture of our trip to see Cirque du Soleil this past summer.  I could not get her to write two words without begging and then threatening with all my thunderous demands last year when I homeschooled her. 

Driving to school every morning, I still do a double take when I watch her walk into that school, and I bless my Jesus for seeing my heart, knowing what was best for Tory, and moving many mountains to make it happen.