sk8er girl

She wears a dress and a hairclip in her hair -- all while sporting a tattoo on her arm and riding a skateboard. Loooove this little girl!

Kindergarten: a great first week

"Today we did something really special at Kindergarten. Do you want to know what we did? What day is it today? Okay. So every Thursday the big kids come in. They are much bigger and there are a lot of them. I think it's the whole class. They are FOURTH graders! They come to help us with special projects. Today the boy asked me questions and wrote down my answers. He asked me what my address is and I told him 1584... Yes, I know the name of our street. I told him ******. He also asked what my favorite food is and I told him pizza! I drew a crocodile on the back of the paper and the fourth grader told me he doesn't even draw crocodiles that good. He said I did a really good job. And you know what, mom? When I'm a fourth grader, I'll probably draw like I'm a SIXTH grader!"

the kids at 7pm

Thomas starts Kindergarten!

outside his new school

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giving goodbye hugs

"Can I take my price tag off now?"

At a birthday party this afternoon, the host asked everyone to wear a nametag. The party was held at a gymnastics facility and the nametags enabled the staff leading the exercises to address the party-goers by their first names. Over the course of two hours Meredith asked me several times if she could take her price tag off.

pirates & princesses

Pirate Thomas

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The kids went to their friends' birthday party today. Thomas and Gage became friends last year in preschool and this year their little sisters will be in preschool together. For this particular family, the kids have birthdays just 2 years and 5 days apart. So this year their parents threw a shared party that would have made any pirate-loving boy or princess-loving girl absolutely ecstatic. Lucky for them -- and lucky for us to have been invited to share in the celebration!

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(Princess) Meredith chose Snow White

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pirate training ~ girls and makeup
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cute birthday party tables!

from Frosting Face to Sand Face

Oregon highlights

Mt. St. Helens -- someday they'll climb this together

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w/Rachel at Voodoo Doughnuts

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w/Emily at Portland's Saturday Market

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w/Grandma Lesley at Oregon City's DQ

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doing girl stuff w/Franny

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the W Family cousins

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w/Great Grandma Margie and Grandpa George
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cooling off at Portland's Jamison Square

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...and keeping cool w/Grandma!

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Such a quick and busy visit to Oregon this month! We enjoyed several BBQs with family and friends, park playdates, day trips to Mt. St. Helens and Seattle, and lots of special moments with everyone we were able to see!

his first (loose) tooth!

top center tooth on the right (gumline is a little red)

swim school

The kids have started swim lessons again and just completed their first session. We'll take a break while we are in Oregon but will resume lessons again when we return. They are really enjoying them!

super readers

hard-earned t-shirts

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Every summer we participate in the library's summer reading program. This was Thomas' 5th summer reporting! You would think that with our previous 5 years' experience we'd learn by now that the smaller shirts go quickly and to get on the ball when the program begins. Maybe next year we'll get it figured out.

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reporting on the books they've recently read

ZOO