Roller Skating Jan. 14, 2010

Every few months the school has a skate night at Auburn Skate Connection. We have been a couple of times. The evening starts out the same.... clinging to the wall and terror in the face.

Once the kids get a little more comfortable it is time to skate a little away from the wall with parental support or closeness. Matthew doesn't like to hold hands when he skates. It slows him down and he can't escape to play arcade games as easily.

Then comes the unaided skating and laughter.

Matthew is skating by the race line. At some point in the evening they hold a contest by age to see who skates the fastest. Auburn Skate Connection also has a speed skating team that practice after the school is done. Matthew thought that he was in a race with every kid there and would actually strong arm and almost knock kids down if they tried to pass him. He is very competitive. It is a good thing I am fairly stable on skates and could catch the kids before they hit the floor. Once I figured out he thought skating was all about racing, I came up with our own race. Something like... let's see if we can make it to the line three times without falling or let's see if we can catch up with Dad and/or Sister. The strong arming ended at this point much the my relief.

I LOVE this picture of Ceithlinn. She is starting to get pretty fast and confident in her own abilities. It is so fun to be a part of this growth.

We all had so much fun skating and are looking forward to going again. Maybe I will remember to bring the camera.

Family Photos

These photos were taken last August by our friend, Sarah Alston. We really like her photography. You can check out her work at http://www.sarahalstonphotography.com/ She has been in business for a couple years now. It has been fun to see her growth. These are just a few of our favorites. We may add more later.

Josh and I are still so in love 9 years later. Isn't it great?!

Here is the oldest. Ceithlinn posed herself for the one on the tree. The shoot was officially over, Sarah had put her camera away, then Ceithlinn said she had a great idea for a photo. Out came the camera and a few more shots were taken. (One of the many reasons we really like Sarah Alston)

Mr. Matthew, is such an angel. Don't let the innocent eyes fool you. He is still very much boy and can play hard, laugh hard, and love hard.

These are a couple family photos that we love. Sarah had heard of this fabulous place with waterfalls (which is what we told her we wanted) --- Tumwater Falls. It is an oasis in the middle of Olympia. So refreshing and beautiful!

Sarah told Ceithlinn to give her a princess look and Matthew to be a super hero. This is what the kids came up with.

I am repenting....

So, it has been a very long time since my last post. So much has happened. I am not, however, going to catch you all up on the last several months of our lives. I will be writing from here out. I am going through our photos from February and will be posting photos and stories with that. I will also be putting these into a Word document to be sent to those who may want them snail mail or who don't have access to the internet.

Here's to turning over a new leaf and being better about keeping up on our family history. I miss telling everyone about the kids. They are so fun and continue to change.

Breast Cancer Walk (part 1)

This is now posted on my other blog. It is quite lengthy, and I don't want the hassle of reformatting it on this blog as well. So, go to www.jenis3day.blogspot.com to read up on this event. There will be more coming over this coming week. This event was HUGE and AMAZING! I wanted to split it into smaller chunks.

HUGS!

A quick update on the breast cancer walk...

We had a very successful yard sale this weekend. I was overwhelmed with gratitude to our community, neighbors and friends. We had neighbors who donate time and items for the sale... furniture that was a big part of our success. We had friends donate their time and money. One particular family decided they would like to run a bake sale which the girls manned. They were able to gather almost $54 in donations! When all was said and done the yard/bake sale generated $612. This has been donated to my walk, which brings my total to $1,042... almost half way there.

Thank you Blaine for the advise on socks, my feet are happier, though now I need to look at getting better shoes...grrr. I will go to our local Fleet Feet and see what kind of good things they have there.

I will post pictures of the yard sale when we get back from our trip to Las Vegas. Our plane leave tomorrow AM at 6:30. Still have packing and other things that need to get done. Thank you to all for your support. I truly appreciate it. HUGS!

Way too much has happened...

I have been lost in the comings and goings of this summer and haven't been vigilant in my posting. So, to those who actually look here rgularly -- my apologies -- once school is back in session and life gets back to normal, the posts will be more regular.

Father's Day

Josh had a pretty good Father's Day. Ceithlinn decided that he needed his own piggy bank so, with a old shoe box and construction paper made one. We taped a couple coins to the top of the Radio Theater "Chronicles of Narnia" and put them in the piggy bank.

We had borrowed these fantastic CDs from a friend a couple years back and really wanted them. So, when they dropped to about 75% off we bought them. We enjoy listening to them on long Sunday drives. Better than any portable DVD player. Ceithlinn gets so enthralled with these that she will ask us to drive a little longer so she can finish listening to the book. It will be great to read these together as a family and see how closely the Radio Theater followed the books.

(Josh with his new bank -- CDs on the computer desk)

Fourth of July

We spent the afternoon with friends having a BBQ and swimming in their pool. That evening we went to their parent's house and watched as they lift off fireworks. The kids enjoyed playing with the sparklers and throwing the little popper things. I liked being away from crowds.

(Ceithlinn and friend Aiden) (Jeni helps Matthew hold onto the long sparkler)

Matthew's worst spill this summer

I always know Matthew is hitting a growth spurt when he falls down a lot and is a walking, talking bruise and owie. He was being watched by a nice couple while Josh, Ceithlinn and I were at play rehearsal. Apparently, he picked a fight with the sidewalk... guess who won. He was actually pretty proud of these. We really are lucky he hasn't had worse... knock on wood.

(Matthew's chin, eye and wrist... can you say ouch!?)

Birthday Fun

We had birthdays... my 34th and Ceithlinn's 7th. I woke up at about 5 in the morning with the flu so, spent most of my birthday curled up in bed trying to ignore my body. That said, Ceithlinn still insisted on cake and getting me red roses. She is very thoughtful. I was able to get out of bed for a short while and spend time with the family. I let Matthew blow the candles out on my cake... that's his favorite part and I didn't want to pass the flu.

(Happy B-Day to Mom)

Now that Ceithlinn is 7 she can say things like, "Mom, do you remember years ago when I was in 1st grade?" To which I usually respond "Yes, you mean last year?" She feels older and that is what is important.

She was given a fantastic gift, the Little House on the Prarie series. Last year she brought one of the books home from the school library. I told her that Laura Ingalls Wilder is a distant cousin. She then said she could not finish reading the book because she needed to have all of them. So, thank you Grandpa Dave and Grandma Jo Ann for the books. We are enjoying them as a family.

(Ceithlinn was so excited to see inside... reading the note to Laura's cousin [her], from Laura's cousin [Granpa Dave])

The Blue Angels

We, well the kids and I, spent part of a day watching the Blue Angelswith our friends, the Flannery's. This is an annual tradition that I have written about in depth before so will not do so now. We didn't stay as long as we usually do because we were hitting triple digits... this is unheard of for Washington, hottest summer on record and no air conditioning... We LOVE watching these jets. They are so impressive. Almost makes me want to be a pilot, almost.

(The jets getting ready to take off... Matthew watching the Blue Angels... Ceithlinn before they take off... the kids and Jeni after the Blue Angels had landed)

(Ceithlinn posing with a Blue Angel cut out, Matthew prefered the commerical plane)

(This is just one of my favorite pictures of the kids goofing off and having a good time. They both wanted tobe in their robes and have pictures taken.)

Training for 60 mile walk!

I continue to train for my Breast Cancer 3 Day walk. This will be Sept. 11-13. I am getting a bit nervous. The reality of how many hours of walking that will entail is really starting to hit. 60 miles! in 3 days! I know once I get going things will be good. I really think I will look back at this with awe. I really feel like this experience will be an amazing experience in my life that I will look back on again and again.

Savior of the World

We have also been involved with the musical play "Savior of the World." This is one we have done before. Josh played a shepherd, Reuben in Act 1 and Cleopas, one of the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Act 2. I was asked to play Joanna, one of the women who Christ appears after his resurrection, about a week and a half before opening night. The thrill of being asked to play this role is I was able to be in a scene with Ceithlinn who played Rebekah. Ceithlinn was so thrilled to have a speaking role! She felt very important and did an amazing job!

(I will post pictures and more details soon.)

That's the nuts and bolts of our crazy summer. I know, you are all wondering, why didn't she go on and on? Well, honestly I have tons to do before my Yard Sale on Friday ... all proceeds to my walk and was just taking a little bit of a brain break. Maybe I will write a novel next time. :)

Gymanstics with the kids

We have been blessed to be able to put the kids in gymnastics this year. They both have really enjoyed it. Ceithlinn is beginning to get some upper body strength and really figuring out how to use her body. She is working on learning a cartwheel. It is slow going, but she continues to progress. She has figured out momentum, which is huge when you are trying to flip feet over the head. Now she just needs to get the straight up and down, instead of out with the legs. She'll get it.

(Working on splits, a backbend(ouch!), cartwheel, handstand and balance beam)

Matthew really enojys the warm up time and doing somersaults. He loves to see how many he can do in a row. I haven't counted recently, but last time I counted it was 5, then the he ran out of room, literally. He gets really frustrated with anything but walking on the balance beam, but is getting quite good with not falling off.

(Warming up, Matthew's backbend, walking on the beam, somersault down the ramp! (look at that grin), somersault on the mats)