09/25/24
We’ve got many good things to share with you since our last newsletter.
Earlier this month, Hannah took the older girls to the Pantages Theater to see the musical Hamilton. The girls were so excited!
We also celebrated Carys’s birthday by eating at Soup and Fresh for the first time. We were so sad when Souplantation shut down, and we were excited to learn that Soup and Fresh had opened a similar restaurant in one of the old Souplantation locations nearby.
Carys also made this perfect cheesecake for her birthday dessert.
We took a short trip to visit family and spent a day at Lake Nacimiento. Annaliese really wanted to ride with Daddy in what she called “Daddy’s boat” (kayak). She fussed a little while boarding but really enjoyed paddling around and pointing out rocks on the lake’s edge. Grandma and Papa took the younger girls to an estate sale while there, and they were thrilled to purchase a few of their own treasures.
The younger girls finally got and assembled their new loft beds, and they are thrilled to have more of their own space. They’d been working all summer to clean up and organize everything in their room to make space for the new setup. Elena is getting quite good at handling the screw gun. Also, I did offer her a chair, and she says she prefers to do schoolwork sitting on the ball. I wish my teachers would have allowed me to sit on a ball in school rather than on a chair.
Our apple tree and another of our peach trees produced some wonderful fruit, and Annaliese enthusiastically helped gather and taste-test some peaches.
Annaliese celebrated her second birthday, and as she grows taller, the safe spaces in our house are shrinking. She’s an impressively capable door-opener, climber, and negotiator. She has too many fun new phrases to share all of them, but a few of my recent favorites are “of course” in response to requests, “it’s fine” in response to our concerns, and “I’m falling” when she’s totally stationary but doesn’t want me to brush her teeth.
In this season, I think I’m most grateful that Ashlinn and Carys have joined the student leadership team at our church. It encourages me to see them growing into their gifts and stepping up to positively influence the people around them.
Thanks again for sharing a slice of your day with us, and blessings until next time!
